Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's X post Wednesday - a selfie with ex-Bharatiya Janata Party MP and current India men's cricket team coach Gautam Gambhir, whom he praised for holding down "the second-hardest job in India, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi" - has provided the saffron party with more ammo with which to attack its rival, particularly before the April Assembly election in Kerala.
The BJP's Shehzad Poonawalla led the charge.
On X this morning he drew picked up Tharoor's comment about the Prime Minister having the "hardest job" and drew parallels between cricket fans second-guessing Gambhir's coaching and tactics and the opposition doing the same to the PM, accusing the latter of acting against national interests.
"... Tharoor's acknowledgement that Prime Minister Modi has the hardest job in India... given how he is second-guessed by an opposition that puts parivarik (family) interests above Bharat's..."
Poonawalla also predicted "one more Congress fatwa against Tharoor", referring to continuing friction between the MP and his party, friction that seems to be burning bridges between them.
The post that started this round of jabs was posted by the Thiruvananthapuram MP from Maharashtra's Nagpur, before the India - New Zealand T20 match. Gambhir's India team won the match by 48 runs.
The Tharoor-Gambhir selfie that triggered this round of barbs from the BJP.
A diplomat by training, Tharoor is widely seen as being on thin ice with the Congress' central leadership after comments that appear to praise the Prime Minister and the ruling BJP.
These include remarks about the PM's handling of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack and the military strikes on Pakistan, as well as occasional critical comments in the media.
In November last year, for example, an article titled 'Indian Politics Are a Family Business' - a critique of family-led parties like the Congress - did not go down well with the Congress' powers-that-be.
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On that occasion too the BJP pounced with sneers at the 'first family' - a jab at the Gandhi clan that remains hugely influential in the party's daily affairs, despite not being its boss.
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However, Tharoor has always maintained his comments reflect only the desire to better serve India.
And in early January he underlined his commitment to the Congress, questioning critics who said he had deviated from the party line. "... who said I left? Even when I expressed my opinions on various subjects, on most matters, the party and I stood on the same line," he said.
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