THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There is discontent in the congress against Shashi Tharoor MP for his statement that demonising Prime Minister Narendra Modi all the time was not going to help. Tharoor came under criticism from senior party colleagues for his comments that Modi should be praised for doing the right things but Tharoor remained unfazed, saying there was nothing wrong in his stand and was not ready to correct his statement.

Though opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and KPCC chief Mullappally Ramachandran asked him to correct his statement, Tharoor’s stand was that no one should come to teach him. The decision of the KPCC is to seek an apology from him for praising Modi. After getting his explanation, a report will be given to the high command. The rest of the things will be decided later. The congress leaders had given a complaint to congress chief Sonia Gandhi against Tharoor’s statement.

It was Jairam Ramesh who first came forward praising Modi. He said criticizing Modi all the time will not do any good for the congress. His statement had stoked a controversy. Soon after that senior leaders like Manu Abhishek Singhvi and Shashi Tharoor supported the statement. Meantime, opposition leader harshly criticized Tharoor for his statement. When Chennithala said not to heap praises on Modi, Tharoor said nobody need to teach him. K Muraleedharan MP also criticized Tharoor. He said those who wanted to praise Modi should do so after joining the BJP and should leave the Congress. He also came down heavily on Tharoor by adding that the latter's recent praise on Modi might be because he wants to escape from the murder case by pleasing the Prime Minister. It should be faced in the court. The UDF will win even if Tharoor doesn’t turn up to campaign for Vattiyoorkavu by-election, he said.