Launching a fresh attack, senior Congress leader K Muraleedharan has taken a dig at Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor for heaping praises on PM Modi.
According to the reports, K Murleedharan, Congress MP from Vadakara, launching a veiled attack on Shashi Tharoor, said it is not “Oxford English” but “anti-Modi” stand that had helped the party-led front win the Thiruvananthapuram seat.
Muraleedharan, without taking Tharoor’s name, said, Congress leader and former MP late A Charles, who did not know Oxford English had won the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat three times.
Addressing a press meet, the senior leader also said that even he had quit the Congress party some time back, but he had never supported the BJP or sought its favour.
Muraleedharan was apparently referring to Tharoor’s recent criticism against him that those who asked him to quit the party and join the BJP had rejoined the Congress barely eight years ago after leaving it and attacking it for years.
“Even A Charles, who spoke good Malayalam, had won from the constituency three times. He had not won because of Oxford English. It was because Thiruvananthapuram has been a Congress bastion like Vadakara which was generally considered a constituency in which the CPI(M) has an upper hand,” Muraleedharan said to reporters.
The fresh attack comes days after Shashi Tharoor had said that he has always been a proponent of praising PM Modi for his right policy decisions. Tharoor had stated that lauding PM Modi for correct decisions will also add to the credibility of the opposition.
Following his statement, there was a huge uproar within the party in Kerala, which had directed Shashi Tharoor to give an explanation for heaping praise on PM Modi. The KPCC had directed party leaders to stop making public statements after the controversy broke out.
In an earlier attack, K Muraleedharan had said those who wanted to praise Modi should join BJP. Another party MP, Benny Behanan had said glorifying the Prime Minister was not the job of Congress leaders. Other opposition leaders in the state Assembly, Ramesh Chennithala and T N Pratapan MP also came out against Tharoor.
In his email reply to the explanation sought by KPCC president Ramachandran, Tharoor had stated that he had never justified the Prime Minister, but had in fact been a “strong critic” of the BJP government.
