Senior Congress leader M. Veerappa Moily alleged that former Union minister Jairam Ramesh was responsible for "policy paralysis" during the UPA-2 government as he hit out at him over his controversial remarks perceived to be in support of Modi.
Moily also slammed MP Shashi Tharoor for his statement that praising the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for doing the right things would lend credibility to the opposition's criticism of him. Terming the statements as "most unfortunate", he called for appropriate disciplinary action against the two leaders by the Congress leadership. Moily lashing out should be seen in the context of an internecine rift breaking out within the Congress ranks over "praise to Modi"; Ramesh's statement that Modi's governance model was not a completely negative story , which was supported by Abhishek Singhvi and Tharoor, was seen as the first shot.
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"As if the Congress is demonising [Modi]," Moily said in a counter to Ramesh, who had recently expressed the view that "demonising" the prime minister all the time was not going to help. He claimed that Ramesh's remark was in "very bad taste", and charged the latter with "compromising himself" with the BJP with such a statement.
"And any leader who would like to give such statement, I think, they are not doing service to Congress party or its leadership."
"Because they enjoy power as ministers, and once they come in the opposition, they would keep a bridge with the ruling party," Moily said.
"He [Ramesh] is responsible for policy paralysis of our government [UPA-2] and he is also responsible for compromising the principles of governance many a time," he alleged in an interview to PTI.
Claiming that Tharoor was never considered as a mature politician, he said, "He [Tharoor] is often fond of giving statements and finding his place in the press. That's all."
"I don't think his statement could be taken that seriously. He has to become a serious politician. That's our plea," he said.
"I think time is now for the Congress party to take appropriate disciplinary action and also warn these people... [those] who want to go out [of the Congress party], let them go out very straightforward; not sabotaging the party and its ideology being within the party", he added.
Moily, a former Karnataka chief minister, stressed the need for the Congress leadership to take immediate steps to rejuvenate the party both at the AICC and state levels, saying there is no alternative to such initiatives.
Tharoor's statement, that PM Modi should be credited for the right things he does, had sparked a firestorm in the Kerala unit of the Congress. Senior leaders, including opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, bayed for his blood. K. Muraleedharan, MP from Vadakara, even said that Tharoor is making all these statements supporting Modi just to become a minister in the cabinet. He even poked fun at him saying its time to officially join the BJP. But, Tharoor retorted by saying that he doesn’t have to take lessons from anyone in the Congress in Kerala.
-Inputs from PTI