The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has ruled that no action will be taken against senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor for his statement praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The KPCC President, Mullappally Ramachandran, said that “KPCC has decided not to take any action against Shashi Tharoor for his comments on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Tharoor's explanation was found to be satisfactory." The Congress party was seemingly upset with Shashi Tharoor’s praise of PM Narendra Modi. Earlier, Shashi Tharoor had supported Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh on not “demonising PM Modi” and tweeted in favour of it. 

Shashi Tharoor's praise for PM Modi

Shashi Tharoor in his tweet praising PM Modi had said, “As you know, I have argued for six years now that @narendramodi should be praised whenever he says or does the right thing, which would add credibility to our criticisms whenever he errs. I welcome others in Oppn coming around to a view for which I was excoriated at the time!". This tweet came after Jairam Ramesh had spoken about PM Modi’s governance model during a book launch. He said, PM Modi’s governance model is not a “complete negative story” and being voted back to power with “30% of the electorate” holds a very strong meaning. He also praised the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUJ) and how it helped PM Modi to secure votes in 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. Congress MP and Chidambaram’s lawyer in the INX Media case, Abhishek Manu Singhvi also agreed with Jairam Ramesh’s statements and expressed how always “demonizing PM Modi” is wrong. He stated that the “one-way opposition” that Congress presents only helps the Prime Minister.  

Congress Reactions 

Enraged by the comments from senior Congress leaders, ex-Chief Minister and Congress leaders from Karnataka Verappa Moily said, “He (Tharoor) is often on and off fond of giving statements and finding his place in the press. That's all. I don't think his statement could be taken that seriously. He has to become a serious politician. That's our plea”. Veerappa Moily further added, “I think the time is now for the Congress party to take appropriate disciplinary action and warn these people who want to go out (of the Congress party), let them go out very straightforwardly; not sabotaging the party and its ideology being within the party. We should not delay (taking those steps) just because there are elections (coming up) in two-three States. Every time there will be an excuse for elections". He added that the party should be "very strictly organized”