Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge hit out at party colleague and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor for allegedly praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking at a media briefing at the party headquarters in New Delhi, Kharge took a jibe at Tharoor, who has been at odds with the party leadership lately, saying, "The country comes first for us; for some, it's Modi first, nation second."
When asked about Shashi Tharoor's latest article praising PM Modi, Kharge said, "I can’t read English, but his language is very good, that’s why we made him a member of the party’s working committee. But what I want to say is that all of us, the entire opposition, have come together and said we stand with our Army, our Army that is fighting... we are with them. For us, the nation comes first, but for some people, it's Modi first, nation second."
This is the first instance in recent times that Kharge himself has criticised Tharoor for praising the PM.
Recently, Shashi Tharoor, who led an all-party delegation that toured countries to present India's position on Operation Sindoor, wrote an article for the English daily The Hindu about the government's outreach in the aftermath of the operation.
In the article, the Congress leader, while praising PM Modi, wrote that his energy, dynamism, and willingness to engage remained a "prime asset" for India on the global stage but deserved greater backing.
This comment about PM Modi did not sit well with Congress leaders and widened the rift between the party high command and Tharoor.
Speaking at the press briefing, Congress President Kharge launched a scathing attack on the BJP and PM Modi, accusing them of misusing the 50th anniversary of the Emergency to divert attention from their failures and undermine the Indian Constitution.
Kharge's remarks came as the BJP held hundreds of seminars attacking the Congress over the imposition of the Emergency in 1975.
