Shortly after Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge criticized party member Shashi Tharoor for his constant admiration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Thiruvananthapuram MP on Wednesday posted a famous quote amid tensions with the historic party.
A cryptic post on Shashi Tharoor’s X account read, “Don’t ask permission to fly.” The tweet implies a discreet, indirect jab directed at the Congress for consistently attacking him.
Kharge’s remarks on Shashi Tharoor
The ongoing feud between the Congress party and Shashi Tharoor appears to have escalated after the MP commended Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a recent article. In his initial reaction to the controversy, Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge declared that for the party, “the country comes first,” in contrast to the perspective that “for some” people, “Modi is first and the country follows.”
Kharge made these comments at a press conference in the national capital while commemorating the anniversary of the Emergency declared by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from 1975 to 1977.
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Kharge also addressed the reactions to Tharoor’s article in The Hindu, in which the Congress MP characterized Modi’s “energy, dynamism, and willingness to engage” as a “prime asset” for India internationally and stated it warranted “greater backing.”
Regarding Tharoor’s article, Kharge remarked, “Mr. Tharoor is quite good in English. I can’t read English well. His command of the language is excellent. That’s the reason we appointed him as a member of the Congress Working Committee.”
Feud in Grand-Old Party Deepens
Kharge’s reply followed Tharoor’s clarification that Operation Sindoor’s worldwide engagement did not indicate his “leaping to join” the BJP, but rather expressed national unity, interest, and support for India.
Tharoor’s piece has created tension within the party, prompting Congress to separate itself from his comments made on Tuesday. Congress has expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s management of recent occurrences after the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir and is reportedly unhappy with Tharoor for not supporting its official position.
