File photo of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor
A Congress publication in Kerala has, in an editorial, censured party MP Shashi Tharoor for penning "love letters" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi through social media and "adulatory articles in edit pages."
The article in the Congress daily "Veekshnam" does not name Mr Tharoor but makes it clear who it is aiming at. Replete with oblique references to Mr Tharoor's expertise in foreign policy, it concludes with a saying in Malayalam - "even the gold-yielding tree should be felled if it poses a threat to one's home."
On Monday, Congress leaders in Kerala had warned Mr Tharoor to stop praising PM Narendra Modi or face disciplinary action. The party unit was incensed at his positive response to the Prime Minister tagging him in his Swachh Bharat or Clean India campaign.
The 'Veekshnam' editorial said the "loyalty of anyone who pens love letters to Modi through social media and writes adulatory articles in edit pages will be suspected."
The article said it was "rather strange" that a spokesperson of the Congress was "eulogising Modi", and added that "seeking campus selection from the BJP by sitting in the Congress camp is nothing but sheer betrayal of trust."
Mr Tharoor is the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram and a former Union Minister. He has dismissed his partymen's allegations and said he is a "proud Congressman" who has not even remotely endorsed the "Hindutva agenda" of the BJP.