Congress President Kharge also said that Tharoor was inducted into the Congress Working Committee because of his English language skills.
Taking a jibe at senior Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, party president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said his party believed in the “country first” mantra, but it was “Modi first and country later” for “some people”.
During a special press conference at the AICC office, when he 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 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 asked about possible action against Tharoor by the 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 and security of the country. 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 to 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 with an image of a bird and the caption read, “Don’t ask permission to fly. The wings are yours. And the sky belongs to no one.”