Congress panel may probe Shashi Tharoor's 'Modi tilt'

NEW DELHI: Congress disciplinary committee is likely to look into Shashi Tharoor's case of alleged indiscipline, a move that may at once satisfy the angry Kerala unit while also putting pressure on the diplomat-turned-MP to change course.

Tharoor is under fire for his gushing praise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his web posts and for accepting the PM's invite to be the brand ambassador of Clean India campaign. The Kerala unit of Congress has slammed Tharoor and urged the central leadership to decide his fate.

It is learnt that AICC disciplinary panel could look into the issue. The speculations were fuelled by the visit of head of the panel AK Antony to Motilal Vora, another member of the panel, on Friday afternoon.

Partymen believe a drastic action is unlikely against Tharoor. The MP himself is seen to have made amends to clarify his position with posts that said that Gandhi's call for cleanliness stood for a larger purity of soul, slamming communalism and dogmatism.

In his defence, Tharoor said the hostility towards him emanates from his being an "outsider" in Kerala politics.

When a case goes to the disciplinary panel, Congressmen interpret it as the leadership being on a wait-and-watch mode. Like in Tharoor's case, it could be a signal that they were keeping an eye on his future statements on Modi and BJP.

Insiders suspect a pattern of warmth for the saffron leader could be owing to extraneous reasons like political ambition. They believe monitoring the MP could clarify the matter.

The post-mortem report of Tharoor's late wife Sunanda Pushkar only added to the muddle. Amid claims that she could have died of poisoning, Congress refused to answer queries on the case or comment if it could be the reason behind Tharoor's softness towards BJP.

Badly bruised after the humiliating defeat in Lok Sabha elections, with possibly another debacle in store in the ongoing assembly polls, Congress managers believe the party has to take a strong stand against Modi to keep up the morale of party workers. Comments such as the ones made by Tharoor are seen as demoralizing.

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