Congress sacks Shashi Tharoor as spokesman for ‘praising’ Narendra Modi

With the KPCC submitting its view officially, Congress president Sonia Gandhi last week referred the matter to the central disciplinary action committee of the party. The three-member panel consisting of A K Antony, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Motilal Vora went into the matter and felt disciplinary action should be initiated against him.

“The Congress president Sonia Gandhi has accepted the recommendation of the AICC disciplinary committee to remove Shashi Tharoor from the post of spokespersons of the AICC with immediate effect,” Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said. Tharoor was made a spokesperson in January this year.

READ: Shashi Tharoor accepts AICC’s decision, treats ‘matter as closed’

Tharoor had come under severe attack from Kerala Congress leaders after he said he felt “honoured” to accept Prime Minister Modi’s invitation to join the Swachh Bharat Mission. Many leaders went on to openly demand disciplinary action against him. Later the KPCC officially asked the high command to take appropriate action against him.

The KPCC’s argument was that Tharoor has been repeatedly praising Modi. Days after Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister, Tharoor said his comments so far has been “very conciliatory and inclusive”. Later, he suggested Modi has evolved into Modi 2.0 and argued that the Congress should not be “churlish” to ignore his inclusive outreach.

Tharoor has already rejected the charge that he is inching closer to the BJP. “Being receptive to specific statements or actions of BJP leaders does not remotely imply acceptance of the party’s core Hindutva agenda. The PM pitched his appeal as a non-political one and I received it in that spirit. I am a proud Congressman and a proud Indian,” he had said.