NEW DELHI: Is Shashi Tharoor prioritising nationwide curiosity over occasion curiosity as nation’s international envoy or is he being a “tremendous spokesperson of the BJP“? The Thiruvananthapuram MP, who’s main one of many 7 multi-party delegations to reveal Pakistan publish Pahalgam terror assault, is as soon as once more in his occasion’s crosshairs – this time for his comment that “India breached the Line of Management (Loc) for the primary time throughout the 2016 surgical strike on a terror base.“As anticipated, Congress rebuttal to this declare has been sharp and powerful. The occasion cited an outdated assertion of S Jaishankar to counter Tharoor’s remarks. Senior Congress chief Pawan Khera posted on X a comment made by Jaishankar to the Parliamentary Committee on Exterior Affairs in October 2016. Khera claimed that Jaishankar had then mentioned: “Professionally executed, target-specific, limited-calibre counter-terrorist operations have been carried out throughout the LoC up to now too, however that is for the primary time that the federal government has made it public.” Drifting asideTharoor and Congress, who’ve been at loggerheads for someday now, appear to be quick drifting aside. What began in February as Tharoor’s shock one-off reward for PM Modi’s US go to has slowly however certainly advanced right into a full blown controversy with the Congress chief making a number of statements in reward of NDA authorities’s diplomacy initiatives and particularly its dealing with of occasions publish the Pahalgam terror assault. The newest controversy erupted after Tharoor, throughout his go to to Panama, mentioned that lately, India’s stance on terrorism had modified and that terrorists now perceive they may face penalties for his or her actions.“What has modified lately is that the terrorists have additionally realised they may have a worth to pay; on that, let there be little question. When, for the primary time, India breached the Line of Management between India and Pakistan to conduct a surgical strike on a terror base, a launch pad – the Uri strike in September 2016. That was already one thing we had not executed earlier than. Even throughout the Kargil Struggle, we had not crossed the Line of Management; in Uri, we did, after which got here the assault in Pulwama in January 2019. This time, we crossed not solely the Line of Management but in addition the worldwide border, and we struck the terrorist headquarters in Balakot. This time, now we have gone past each of these. We’ve got not solely gone past the Line of Management and the worldwide border. We’ve got struck on the Punjabi heartland of Pakistan by hitting terror bases, coaching centres, and terror headquarters in 9 locations,” Tharoor had mentioned.This evoked a pointy retort from the Congress. Udit Raj, who has been main the cost in opposition to Tharoor, took to social media to slam the Thiruvananthapuram MP. “How may you denigrate the golden historical past of Congress by saying that earlier than PM Modi, India by no means crossed LOC and the Worldwide border. In 1965 the Indian Military entered Pakistan at a number of factors, which fully stunned the Pakistanis within the Lahore sector. In 1971, India tore Pakistan into two items and throughout the UPA authorities, a number of surgical strikes have been unleashed, however drum beating was not executed to encash it politically. How may you be so dishonest to the occasion which gave you a lot?” the Congress chief wrote on X.Pawan Khera additionally focused Tharoor and tagged him on an outdated interview of Manmohan Singh – during which the previous Prime Minister had claimed that at the very least 6 surgical strikes have been carried out in opposition to Pakistan throughout the UPA regime. The Congress had in Might 2019 launched a listing of six UPA-era “surgical strikes” which included Bhattal sector in Poonch (June 19, 2008); Sharda sector, throughout Neelam River Valley, in Kel (August 30-September 1, 2011); Sawan Patra checkpost (January 6, 2013); Nazapir sector (July 27-28, 2013); Neelam Valley (August 6, 2013); and one on December 23, 2013.” The BJP, which had then referred to as these claims fraudulent, got here to Tharoor’s defence and slammed the Congress for attacking a “nationalist” chief inside its ranks.BJP nationwide spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla alleged the Congress has deployed Udit Raj to assault Tharoor on the behest of Rahul Gandhi at a time when a multi-party Indian delegation, led by the Congress MP, is overseas to reveal Pakistan on the worldwide discussion board.BJP chief Ajay Alok mentioned, “There are two gangs inside Congress – one is the ‘Gangs of Rahul Gandhi,’ much like ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’, and the opposite is the nationalist group with leaders like Shashi Tharoor and P Chidambaram. At this time, the Gangs of Gandhi are behaving just like the Gangs of Wasseypur. Congress has fully misplaced its psychological stability.”Who’s responsible for this divide?Former Congress chief Sanjay Jha blames the occasion for the current disaster. “The Congress didn’t give Tharoor his due. In Tharoor, the Congress had an enormous expertise at its disposal and he together with Chidambaram ought to have been given prominence in showcasing occasion’s response to the present standoff,” Sanjay Jha says. What ought to fear the Congress is the help for Tharoor from one among its senior Kerala leaders, who was lately faraway from the publish of state chief. Former KPCC chief Okay Sudhakaran had final week questioned the occasion’s determination to exclude the identify of Tharoor from the record of individuals to guide the Centre’s delegations on ‘Operation Sindoor‘ and mentioned it was akin to “insulting” him.Sudhakaran mentioned that Tharoor was a reliable chief and a loyal member of the occasion and due to this fact, in his view, it was not proper to sideline the Thiruvananthapuram MP.“All this was an pointless controversy is what I really feel,” Sudhakaran had mentioned in an interview to a TV channel in line with information company PTI.Ought to Congress act in opposition to Tharoor?Tharoor appears to be unperturbed by the Congress opposition to his stand and the assaults of Udit Raj. He has overtly aired his views supporting PM Modi’s diplomacy initiatives regardless of clear directions from Mallikarjun Kharge to not communicate in opposition to the occasion line.Sanjay Jha feels Congress mustn’t take any motion in opposition to Tharoor and as an alternative the occasion ought to make efforts to speak to him and combine him. Nicely, that doesn’t appear seemingly within the current circumstances – particularly with some Congress leaders now taking a extra aggressive stand in opposition to Tharoor.Maybe, it’s the politics of Kerala that’s on the centre of this row. Kerala goes to polls subsequent 12 months and Congress goes all out to defeat the LDF and make a comeback within the state after two consecutive defeats. The truth that Rahul Gandhi’s closest aide Okay C Venugopal is from Kerala could maybe have one thing to do with the ability tussle within the state unit and Tharoor’s doable disenchantment with the occasion.