Thiruvananthapuram: Voicing resentment at repeated praise of PM Narendra Modi by party MP Shashi Tharoor, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) on Wednesday decided to submit a report to the party High Command seeking suitable action in the matter.
Talking to reporters after the KPPC meeting here, V. M Sudheeran said praises lavished on Modi repeatedly by Tharoor had hurt Congress and UDF workers who worked sincerely and tirelessly for his victory in the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency for a second time.
“KPCC will submit a report to the high command on the issue reflecting the sentiments of the party's Kerala unit,” the KPCC chief said.
"Tharoor has praised Modi on several occasions. This has hurt the sentiments of the Congress and UDF workers who have put up hard work for Tharoor's victory in the Lok Sabha polls," Sudheeran told reporters.
"Kerala is a state that has rejected the BJP completely. This is mainly due to the democratic and secular outlook of the people. They also want Congress to be strengthened further. Tharoor has wounded their sentiments," he added.
Tharoor, who drew flak from the KPCC by responding positively to Modi's invitation to him for the "Swachh Bharat" clean India campaign, has maintained that his response would not mean that he even remotely endorsed the BJP's "core Hindutva" agenda and that he continued to be a "proud Congressman".
"It is completely ridiculous. I reject it completely," Tharoor had said when asked about talks in some sections within his party and outside that he was trying to get close to the BJP.
Veekshanam daily, the Congress mouth piece, Tuesday had carried a stinging editorial, without naming the target, saying that loyalty of those who pens "love letters" to Modi through social media and writes adulatory articles in edit pages will be suspected.
The write-up, replete with oblique references to Tharoor's expertise in foreign policy issues, concluded by quoting the Malayalam saying that "even the gold-yielding tree should be felled if it poses a threat to one's home."