logo
Congress Rift Widens As Party Leader Says ‘Shashi Tharoor Not With Us, Not Invited'

Congress Rift Widens As Party Leader Says ‘Shashi Tharoor Not With Us, Not Invited'

India.com21-07-2025
Amid rising tensions within the Congress party, senior leader and former Union Minister K. Muraleedharan on Sunday declared that Shashi Tharoor would no longer be invited to any party programme in Thiruvananthapuram unless he alters his stance on key national security issues.
His remarks have further exposed the widening rift between Tharoor and the party's Kerala leadership.
Speaking to reporters, Muraleedharan said, 'Till he (Tharoor) changes his stance, we will not invite him to any party programme held in Thiruvananthapuram. He is not with us, so there is no question of him boycotting an event.'
The Congress Working Committee (CWC) member was, according to Muraleedharan, 'no longer considered one of us.'
The senior leader's statement comes at a critical juncture, with the Congress and the INDIA bloc preparing to confront the Modi government in the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament.
They are expected to highlight what they term a 'security lapse' in the Pahalgam terror attacks and question the outcomes of the government's high-profile Operation Sindoor.
Tharoor, who had led an all-party delegation to the Americas as part of Operation Sindoor, had earlier said at a public event in Kochi that national interest must come before partisan politics.
'We must always put the country first. Political parties exist to make countries better,' he said.
Tharoor's position — including expressions of support for the armed forces and the central government on national security — has drawn sharp criticism from within his own party.
'Many have attacked me for putting the nation first. But I will stand my ground because I believe this is the right thing to do for the country,' Tharoor asserted, defending his stand.
However, his remarks have not gone down well with senior Congress leaders, including Muraleedharan, who recently criticised Tharoor for sharing a survey that projected him as the most preferred Chief Ministerial face of the UDF.
'He should first decide which party he belongs to,' Muraleedharan retorted. Adding to the tensions, Tharoor's recent article criticising the late Indira Gandhi's handling of the Emergency in a Malayalam daily had also sparked backlash within party ranks.
Calling for clarity, Muraleedharan said, 'If he feels constrained within the Congress, he should choose a clear political path.'
The feud has now become a full-blown internal crisis, raising questions about Tharoor's future in the party and further complicating Congress's unity efforts in Kerala ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

India-Pak engagement only on battlefield: Abhishek
India-Pak engagement only on battlefield: Abhishek

Time of India

time21 minutes ago

  • Time of India

India-Pak engagement only on battlefield: Abhishek

Kolkata: Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Monday said India shouldn't engage with Pakistan in any form, including sports, hours before he was leaving for Delhi to attend the monsoon session of Parliament. "India must not engage with Pakistan in any sphere. The only engagement we should have with Pakistan is on the battlefield, and the only prize worth winning is Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK)," the Diamond Harbour MP said in a social media post. His comments come a day after the Asia Cup 2025 schedule was announced in which India and Pakistan have been placed in the same group. The rival nations are set to play each other on Sept 14. You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata Banerjee said calls to keep politics out of sport must stop, adding that attempts to allow sporting ties with a nation allegedly involved in proxy wars wasn't diplomacy but "a bloody betrayal". "Let justice, not entertainment be our goal. If there is to be a match with Pakistan, let it be fought at the LoC and let PoK be the only trophy we seek," Banerjee said in his post where he also referenced the recent Pahalgam attack that claimed 26 lives. "Anything less is an insult to our martyrs and injustice and betrayal to the victims of Pahalgam. Period!" he added. Later, while speaking to reporters at the Kolkata airport, Banerjee said Trinamool MPs will continue to speak in Bengali in Parliament and accused BJP-governed states, such as Rajasthan, Gujarat and UP, of engaging in systematic violence and discrimination against Bengalis. Asked for his views on illegal immigration, Banerjee said managing borders falls under the jurisdiction of the Union ministry of home affairs, BSF and CRPF. He demanded the resignation of the Union home minister and chiefs of the BSF and IB for what he called "repeated security failures". On the upcoming assembly polls in Bengal, Banerjee said if BJP continues on its current political path, the verdict in the polls will be even more decisive than in 2021 and 2024. "Those torturing the people of Bengal, remember — the lesson in 2026 will be even more severe," he said.

Timely intervention, says Goel; Karti highlights ‘underreporting'
Timely intervention, says Goel; Karti highlights ‘underreporting'

Time of India

time36 minutes ago

  • Time of India

Timely intervention, says Goel; Karti highlights ‘underreporting'

New Delhi: The Supreme Court initiated suo motu proceedings on Monday after reviewing a TOI report about rabies cases resulting from dog bites. "The news item contains some alarming and disturbing figures and facts," the bench observed. Former Union minister Vijay Goel, who has long been championing dog shelters, defined the move as a "timely and much-needed intervention" by the judiciary and said he would present data on the matter. In a press statement on Monday, Goel reiterated his key demands, including amendments to the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023, particularly on allowing relocation of biting dogs to a different place or shelter after sterilisation rather than being released in the original location under Rule 11. A national census of stray canines is also a demand. Goel's campaign has taken on renewed urgency following two dog attacks in Narela and Pooth Kalan, the latter resulting in the death of a six-year-old girl, who succumbed to rabies. Expressing strong objection to ABC Rule 20, which gives RWAs the responsibility of feeding stray dogs within private societies, appealed for a complete ban on street feeding — with legal consequences for violators. You Can Also Check: Delhi AQI | Weather in Delhi | Bank Holidays in Delhi | Public Holidays in Delhi "I'm trying to save both people and dogs from mutual hatred. If things continue this way, society will turn hostile towards animals," Goel said, responding to dog lovers who have allegedly threatened him online and branded him the 'enemy of animals'. Appreciating the move of the apex court, Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram, who is actively pursuing the matter with the central govt, posted on X, "Hope a holistic process is set into motion. Key asks: Enforce a no-dog-on-street policy, build shelters & house all strays. Vaccinate & neuter them, promote adoption with safety norms, ensure clear, humane & enforceable policy, hear & protect those who feel unsafe and fund authorities to act urgently & responsibly. " Chidambaram had even met PM Narendra Modi to discuss the problem on March 27. He claimed to have written to SP Singh Baghel, Union minister of state for animal husbandry and dairying, on July 24 regarding the review of ABC Rules and formulation of a national strategy to manage stray dogs. In his letter, he highlighted the underreporting of dog bite and rabies cases. "Your ministry has reported 3.7 million dog bites and only 54 suspected rabies deaths in 2024 as per National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) data. However, multiple independent bodies present contradictory evidence. For example, ICMR's national survey estimates 9 million animal bite incidents annually with up to 5,700 rabies deaths," he wrote. "While WHO maintains that India accounts for nearly 36% of global rabies mortality with 18,000-20,000 deaths annually. Furthermore, the health ministry's Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (2023) reported 286 rabies deaths — a sharp contrast to NCDC's 2024 figure of 54." The MP said that while ABC Rules might seem progressive in theory, it had "failed structurally and operationally". Chidambaram stated that sterilisation targets were routinely missed, and in most urban areas, they reached only 20-40%, far below the 70%+ required for an impact. "Municipalities suffer from severe manpower shortages, lack of coordination with NGOs and administrative paralysis. While the estimates suggest 6-10 dog bite incidents per minute, with serious injuries, the right of safety of citizens, especially children and the elderly, is being compromised," he maintained. Nanita Sharma, Supreme Court lawyer, contended that modifications to ABC Rules would be ineffective without committed sterilisation and immunisation efforts. "The problem is that govt and agencies are hand in glove and none of the agencies are doing their job diligently," Sharma said. "Had the municipal authorities sterilised and immunised 70% of the strays regularly, then the street dog population would have been contained. Relocation will, in fact, make it difficult to cover all strays. There is a need also to act logically and humanely towards these animals to reduce man-animal conflict. "

New normal in fight against terror, world support: Jaishankar lists wins
New normal in fight against terror, world support: Jaishankar lists wins

Indian Express

time37 minutes ago

  • Indian Express

New normal in fight against terror, world support: Jaishankar lists wins

Operation Sindoor against Pakistan in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 26 civilians, marked a 'new normal' in how India responds to terror and showed 'we will never bow down to nuclear blackmail,' External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in the Lok Sabha Monday. Calling for a united approach within the country in dealing with terror, Jaishankar said, 'The challenge of cross-border terrorism continues, but Operation Sindoor marks a new phase. There is now a new normal.' The new normal has five points, he said. 'One: terrorists will not be treated as proxies, two: cross-border terrorism will get an appropriate response, three: terror and talks are not possible together and there will only be talks on terror, four: not yielding to nuclear blackmail and finally, terror and good neighbourliness cannot coexist, blood and water cannot flow together. This is our position.' On the foreign policy dimension of Operation Sindoor, Jaishankar said that thanks to India's diplomacy, The Resistance Front (TRF) — a proxy of Lashkar-e-Taiba that claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack — was designated as a global terrorist organisation by the US on July 18. He said the focus of India's diplomacy (in the wake of Pahalgam attack) was directed at creating a global understanding of Pakistan's involvement, especially at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), of which Pakistan is presently a (non-permanent) member and India is not. 'Our goals in the Security Council were two: to get an endorsement from the Security Council on the need for accountability, and to bring to justice those who perpetrated this attack,' he said. Jaishankar also said that a result of India's diplomacy post-Pahalgam attack was that only three of the countries that are part of the UN opposed Operation Sindoor. Underlining that India's response to Pahalgam was 'focused, measured and non-escalatory', he said it was important to send a 'clear, strong and resolute' message that 'our red lines had been crossed'. In response to the Opposition's question on why India chose to stop the military action (on May 10), he accused the then Congress-led government of 'inaction' after the 2008 Mumbai attacks. 'People who did nothing have the temerity to ask a government which did so much, which brought down Bahawalpur and Muridke, to say why didn't you do more – it's extraordinary,' he said. He also took on the Opposition for warning the government on a two-front challenge coming from Pakistan and China, saying it was their doing over the last six decades. 'We are getting warnings about Pakistan-China collaboration, when this has been going on for 60 years,' he said. Jaishankar also slammed the Opposition leaders' visits to China 'when the Chinese were issuing stapled visas to people from Arunachal Pradesh and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi's meeting the Chinese Ambassador in the days of the Doklam standoff eight years ago. 'I did not go to China for Olympics, secret agreements; I went to make India's stand clear on terrorism, trade restrictions and de-escalation,' he said. 'The very people who are cautioning us on China are the people who allowed 3G and 4G to come from China. It was this government which ensured Made in India 5G.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store