'Should not be allowed to attend parliamentary party meetings': Congress leaders step up attack on Shashi Tharoor

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Monday stepped up its attacks on Shashi Tharoor as the party geared up to launch an all-out offensive on the Modi government in the monsoon session of Parliament. On the first day of the session, two senior Kerala leaders launched a broadside against the Thiruvananthapuram MP, urging him to quit the Congress on his own.

Tharoor, who has been at loggerheads with the Congress since the beginning of this year, has openly opposed the party line with his praise for Prime Minister Modi and his government on several key policy issues, including the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor .

Congress MP Rajmohan Unnithan fired a salvo at Tharoor and alleged that the Congress MP passes on party meeting deliberations to PM Modi. "Tharoor should no longer be allowed to attend Congress Parliamentary Party meetings. Whatever is discussed there, he goes and tells PM Modi,” Unnithan said as reported by news agency IANS.

Another senior Congress leader from Kerala K Muraleedharan, announced that the state party unit will no longer cooperate with Shashi Tharoor.

"We are not ready to cooperate with him in Kerala because he always keeps attacking the Congress and Indira Gandhi. In the last one year, PM Modi did not say a single word about Sanjay Gandhi but he accused Sanjay Gandhi. He always opposes Rahul Gandhi's statement." Muraleedharan said earlier, firing the first salvo.

"Till he (Tharoor) changes his stance, we will not invite him to any party programme held in Thiruvananthapuram. He is not with us, so there is no question of him boycotting an event," he added.

Now, this is not the first time that Congress leaders have openly targeted Tharoor. In the past, Udit Raj has called Tharoor the "super spokesperson of the BJP." But what makes today's remarks significant is that they come from Kerala Congress leaders , who had till now not spoken so strongly against Shashi Tharoor.

That Congress and Tharoor have reached a point of no return is quite evident now. So, why do they not part and go their own ways? Well, Unnithan claims that Tharoor wants to be thrown out of the party instead of quitting on his own.

"He doesn’t need to wait for the party to expel him -- that’s not going to happen. But he clearly wants to be thrown out. It's best he leaves on his own ... ," the Congress MP said.

Tharoor, who was selected by the Modi government for a global diplomacy mission post Operation Sindoor, has defended his pro-government stand by stating that for him "nation comes before the party." He has repeated this defence again and again to justify his support for Prime Minister Modi and his handling of the situation post-Pahalgam attack.

Recently, Tharoor, while addressing the issues related to party high command, stated that sometimes it is necessary to cooperate with other parties in the interest of national security.

While answering a student's query related to his relations with the Congress party leadership during an event in Kochi, Tharoor emphasised that, for him, national security will always come first.

"Politics is unfortunately or otherwise, in any democracy is about competition. As a result, when people like me say it that we respect our parties we have certain values and convictions which keep us in our parties. But we need to cooperate with other parties in the interest of national security. The question you asked. Sometimes the parties feel that is disloyal to them and that becomes a big problem which is your first loyalty? To my mind, the nation comes first", the Congress MP said.

"Parties are a means of making the nation better. So to my mind, whichever party you belong to the objective of that party is to create a better India in it's own way. The parties have the right to disagree about the best way of doing that, the best way of making a better India", Tharoor said during the event.

However, not all Tharoor remarks have been in the context of the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor. The Thiruvananthapuram MP, who has in the last few months heaped praise on PM Modi's diplomatic efforts several times, recently spoke openly against Emergency and even attacked Sanjay Gandhi. Clearly, this had nothing to do with national security.

With Parliament set to debate Operation Sindoor next week, the BJP leaders are likely to cite various remarks of Tharoor to blunt the Congress and opposition attack. It will be interesting to see how the Congress handles its "rebel" MP on the floor of Lok Sabha who now enjoys a strong backing of the treasury benches.