Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor, on Friday raised speculations as he tweeted a cryptic message with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's image.
Tharoor tweeted an image of PM Modi with his fingers raised to his lips in a “shush” gesture, and captioned it "my h". And within 15 minutes, even as twitterati were trying to decipher the meaning of it, Tharoor deleted the tweet.
However, it was too late. At least a few tweeple have completed Tharoor's incomplete tweet as "my hero". While others have interpreted it as Congress trying to gag Tharoor from praising PM Modi. "Is he jumping ships," a few asked, referring to the still continuing deflections to the BJP from the Congress.
Tharoor's cryptic tweet comes days after his comments on Modi invited flak from his party colleagues. Tharoor, along with Jairam Ramesh and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, had sparked controversy within the Congress for their statements on the need to praise Modi when his accomplishments are genuine. Singhvi had said that demonising Modi is wrong, while Ramesh argued that doing so [demonising Modi] would result in leaders becoming unable to confront him.
Tharoor then tweeted saying, “As you know, I have argued for six years now that @narendramodi should be praised whenever he says or does the right thing, which would add credibility to our criticisms whenever he errs. I welcome others in Opposition coming around to a view for which I was excoriated at the time! (sic)”.
After senior Kerala Congress leaders took offence at Tharoor’s statements, joking that Tharoor should join the BJP, he remarked that he did not need to take lessons from anyone from the Congress, prompting further friction within the party’s state unit.
Senior Congress leader M. Veerappa Moily also came out strongly against Tharoor, Ramesh and Singhvi’s statements, denying that the Congress was demonising Modi and adding that Tharoor was “fond of giving statements and finding his place in the press.”
The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) later asked Tharoor to justify his statements, prompting the MP from Thiruvananthapuram to send them a letter, saying that he was “astonished to hear” that he had justified Modi. He added, “find me one leader from our state who has made 10% of the effort I made to study, research, anticipate and oppose the Modi Government.”
The KPCC accepted his rationale and decided not to pursue the matter further.