Congress MP Shashi Tharoor addressing reporters on the sidelines of an NSUI event in New Delhi on Wednesday, has said that reports about him praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi have irritated him. He claims that he only suggested that the Congress party figure out on why people voted for Narendra Modi again in 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.

Tharoor has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be praised whenever he says or does the right thing. This would add to the credibility of the Congress when the Prime Minister made an error, Tharoor believes.

"I welcome others in the opposition coming around to a view for which I was excoriated at the time," he further remarked.

Tharoor has been lately emphasising for the Congress party to find out on why those people who favoured the Congress in the past have also voted for Modi in 2019. 

READ | Tharoor backs PM Modi again, now joins Language Challenge

READ | Congress divided? Shashi Tharoor echoes Ramesh & Singhvi's Modi praise

We should understand why people vote for Modi

"What I have said is that our Principal should be that we understand why people voted for Modi. We as an Opposition party got 19 per cent votes in both 2014 and 2019 elections. The BJP under Narendra Modi got 31 per cent in 2014 and 39 per cent in 2019 Lok Sabha Election. Many of the people who voted for us in the past went to the BJP this time," Tharoor said. 

The Congress MP also said that he believed Swacha Bharat to be a good idea, but, unfortunately, the campaign was merely reduced to"photo-ops". Adding further he said, "India is not clean yet, only talking won't do (it)".

Kerala Congress had asked clarification from Tharoor when media reports of him praising PM Narendra Modi surfaced.

READ |  Shashi Tharoor defends his 'PM Modi praise', responds to KPCC notice