Thiruvananthapuram: Senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor Saturday put the Congress in a spot when he praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US as a success and also hailed the CPM-led LDF government in Kerala for “its initiatives in economic innovation and sustainable growth.”
He praised Modi for bringing back substantial gains from the US for India. “I welcome the fact that there is now an agreement to have a negotiation for the next 9 months on trade and tariffs. It’s far better than Washington hastily and unilaterally imposing some tariffs on us, which could have damaged and hurt our exports.” Tharoor said.
Reacting to this, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera told reporters of news channels in Kerala that what the MP said was not in tune with the party’s stand. While senior leader Rahul Gandhi criticised the outcome of Modi’s visit to the US, Tharoor was on a different page.
To criticism flowing from Delhi, Tharoor said: “For 16 years, I have been in politics. My attitude has been that when somebody in the government, whether it’s our government or some other party’s government, does the right thing or does something well, one should acknowledge and praise it, and when they do something badly, one should criticise it,” Tharoor was quoted by ANI.
But what left the Congress red-faced in Kerala was the MP’s praise for Pinarayi-led Left government.
In an opinion piece titled “Changing Kerala: Lumbering jumbo to a lithe tiger”, which was published in The New Indian Express Friday, Tharoor wrote: “I had been constrained to observe in the past that ‘god’s own country’ was the devil’s own playground for business. If that is no longer true, we all have reasons to celebrate… Kerala is beginning to stand out as a model of economic innovation and sustainable growth.”
Referring to the measures the LDF government has taken to attract investment and promote business and start-ups, the Thiruvananthapuram MP spoke of a “transformation”. “That this (economic) transformation has begun to occur under a Communist-led LDF government seems astonishing, but it is not entirely surprising,” he stated.
Opposition leader VD Satheesan flayed Tharoor wondering from where the MP was quoting his statistics on Kerala’s development. “Kerala is not an investor-friendly state. I don’t know on what basis and under which circumstances Tharoor has written the article (praising the investment scenario in Kerala under the LDF regime). At present, Kerala is not a state with an excellent business environment,” Satheeshan said.
To this, Tharoor shot back saying: “Let him first read what I wrote.”
The CPM went to town with glee after Tharoor’s praise. “Coming from a distinguished person of his standing, Kerala should realise the wonderful job done by the Left government,” the CM said at a public meeting.
On Saturday, the CPM mouthpiece Deshabhimani prominently featured the Malayalam version of Tharoor’s article. The party’s social media handles also went active quoting Tharoor.
KPCC president K Sudhakaran brushed aside the issue saying he had not read the article.
Tharoor’s praise for the Vijayan government has come at a time when the Congress-led UDF is gearing up to launch a massive agitation against the LDF ahead of the elections to the local bodies and the Assembly elections next year.
