Taking a jibe at senior Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, party president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said his party believes in a “country first” mantra but for some people it is “Modi first and country later”.
During a special press conference at AICC office, when Kharge was asked a question about Tharoor’s article on Operation Sindoor in which he praised PM Narendra Modi, Kharge said: “I can’t read English well. His (Tharoor’s) language is very good, that’s why we have made him a Congress Working Committee member.”
“But I want to say that the people of the opposition together are with the Army that is fighting (during Operation Sindoor). We (the Congress) said the country is supreme and we will work together for the country. We said ‘country first, party later’. Some people say ‘Modi first, country later’. What can we do about that,” Kharge said.
When Kharge was asked about possible action against Tharoor from Congress, Kharge said: “People will write as they please. We do not want to bother ourselves about it. Our only target is unity in the country, security of the country and we will keep fighting for the country. We have fought in the past and will fight in the future, too. There is no need to pay attention to what anyone says.”
When another journalist asked whether Congress was afraid of taking action against Tharoor, Kharge said: “Why be scared? It is our party, we are there. There are nearly 34 working committee members, 34 permanent invitees, nearly 30 special invitees. Now he is speaking as per his own wish. No need to repeat that again and again. Our concern is how to save the country. If somebody is concerned about something else, you can ask him about that.”
Soon after Kharge’s remarks, Tharoor put out a cryptic post on X in which there was an image of a bird with the caption: “Don’t ask permission to fly. The wings are yours. And the sky belongs to no one..”
