Who are they, what is their party position: Tharoor hits back at K. Muraleedharan
Also Read | Murali calls Tharoor's Modi praise 'quite disgusting' in first open attack from Kerala
Mr. Muraleedharan on Sunday hit out at Mr. Tharoor again, saying that he will not be invited to any party programme in the state capital till he changes his stance on the national security issue.
Mr. Muraleedharan said Mr. Tharoor, also a Congress Working Committee (CWC) member, was no longer considered "one of us".
Also Read | BJP questions Congress over not nominating Tharoor for delegation on Operation Sindoor
Asked about the remarks, Mr. Tharoor told reporters, "First of all, it seems to me that the people saying this also have to have a basis for saying this. Who are they? What is their party's position? I would like to know."
Speaking with reporters, Mr. Muraleedharan had 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."
His response had come a day after Mr. Tharoor had said that the nation comes first and parties are the means of making the country better.
The Congress MP had also said that a lot of people have been very critical of him because of his stand supporting the armed forces and the central government in connection with what happened recently in the country and its borders.
"But I will stand my ground, because I believe this is the right thing for the country," Mr. Tharoor had said at an event in Kochi on Saturday.
Mr. Tharoor had also said that when people like him call for cooperating with other parties in the interests of national security, their own parties feel that it's disloyal to them, and that becomes a big problem.
Mr. Muraleedharan had earlier hit out at Mr. Tharoor over the sharing of a survey suggesting he is UDF's most preferred choice for Chief Minister, saying "he should first decide which party he belongs to".
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
25 minutes ago
- Indian Express
A road to her village, a newborn in her family — before her own delivery, YouTuber Leela Sahu welcomes niece
In a singsong voice, 22-year-old Leela Sahu smiles at the camera and answers a relative's offscreen question — 'Leela, iska kya naam rakhe ho?' (Leela, what have you named her?). Without hesitation, she replies: 'Aradhya'. In the reel she uploaded to Instagram, she adds playfully: 'Ghar mein Pihu, Pari, Sundariya bhi hai'. The child in her arms is not hers, but her sister-in-law's newborn daughter — the first baby born in the family in 11 years. But Aradhya's birth marks the emotional culmination of a year-long public campaign led by Leela, a Bagheli YouTuber from Madhya Pradesh's Sidhi district who drew national attention to the broken, unpaved roads that made emergency healthcare in her village nearly inaccessible for pregnant women. 'She was born healthy. The ambulance came about an hour after we called, and it took another hour or so to reach the hospital,' Leela told The Indian Express. 'My due date is August 2. My only hope is the ambulance will come in time.' Leela said this was the first child in the family in the last 11 years. 'That's why I gave her many names, Aradhya, Pari, Sundariya,' she said. As her own delivery date approaches, Leela says she won't give up. There are six pregnant women who are expecting to deliver in the coming months, and a road is crucial for access to healthcare. 'My work isn't done just because construction began. I'll keep raising my voice till the full road is built. Because this isn't just about one ambulance, or one baby. It's about the other woman too.' The road, or at least parts of it, has finally started to take shape. In late July, after months of public pressure and viral videos, construction work began in Khaddi Khurd under the initiative of local Congress MLA Ajay Singh Rahul, who stepped in after BJP MP Rajesh Mishra's comments triggered outrage. The Congress leader said he was moved to act after seeing how the local MP dismissed Leela's concerns by suggesting he would personally carry pregnant women to the hospital on their due dates. The path to this moment began in July 2023, when Leela, then in her first trimester, posted a video tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 'You got all 29 MPs from Madhya Pradesh, Modi ji. Can't you at least give us a road?' she had said, speaking in Bagheli dialect from her mud-brick home in Khaddi Khurd. Her message resonated across platforms, drawing attention to the region's collapsing infrastructure, where pregnant women were routinely transported by tractor and stretchers due to inaccessible roads. In March 2025, officials from the Madhya Pradesh Rural Road Development Authority confirmed that a five kilometre road under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana had been surveyed and submitted for state approval.
NDTV
38 minutes ago
- NDTV
Sarvarkar Defamation Case: Rahul Gandhi Granted Bail, Pleads Not Guilty
Mumbai: A court in Maharashtra's Nashik city on Thursday granted bail to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case filed against him for remarks about Hindutva ideologue and freedom fighter V D Savarkar during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in 2022. Appearing through video link before additional chief judicial magistrate R C Narwadia, RahulGandhi, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, pleaded 'not guilty'. Nashik-resident Devendra Bhutada, through his lawyer Manoj Pingle, has filed the criminal defamation case under sections 500 (defamation) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code. After RahulGandhi pleaded not guilty, his lawyers sought bail. The court allowed the plea on a bond of Rs 15,000, said advocate Pingle. The complainant, director of an NGO, alleged that Gandhi, at a press conference in Hingoli and in a speech during his yatra in November 2022, made statements that harmed Savarkar's reputation. "The speech of the accused along with press statements try to ruin the reputation of the complainant's idol Swatantryaveer Savarkar and his contribution to the society along with his noble work in the pre-independence period," the complaint said. Gandhi said that "Savarkar prayed for release with folded hands and later on promised to work for the British government", it alleged. Gandhi is also facing a defamation case in Pune, filed by Savarkar's grandnephew, over his statements about the late Hindutva ideologue.
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Rahul Gandhi to visit Gujarat on Saturday, to chart out Congress' course for upcoming polls
Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will arrive for a one-day visit to Gujarat on Saturday to address the inaugural session of the party's three-day training programme for the newly-appointed presidents of the district units, said party leaders familiar with the development on Thursday. The event is slated to be held at a private resort in Anand. Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee President Amit Chavda said that Gandhi's state visit will include a strategic meeting to outline the party's course of action for the next two-and-a-half years, focusing on the 2026 civic body polls and the 2027 Assembly will also address a gathering of members of milk unions in Anand later on Saturday. Addressing mediapersons in Vadodara on Thursday, Chavda said, 'Rahul Gandhi will arrive in Gujarat on July 26, land in Vadodara and head to Anand, where he will join the inaugural session of the three-day Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan training camp for the newly-elected district presidents from across the state'. 'He (Rahul) has accepted our invitation to guide the newly elected leaders on the path ahead (especially) in (these) times when we are fighting corruption and irregularities in administration across the state…. he will take part in the camp for about four hours. Discussions will be held to plan Congress' move in the upcoming days to take up the issue of the misadministration, injustice and corruption in the cooperative sector… The party will fight against the same… There have been complaints of corruption in the Amul model that was set up due to the vision of Sardar Patel, Tribhuvandas Patel and Dr Kurien,' Chavda added. Chavda said that the members of the milk unions across the state are 'agitating' to be heard. Referring to the death of the milk farmer Ashok Chaudhary, who allegedly died following a medical complication after attending the Sabar Dairy protest on July 14, Chavda said, 'The entire system of cooperatives has been polluted. Therefore, Rahul ji will also interact with members of the milk producers union'. Chavda added: 'He will hear their pleas and complaints… He will be in Gujarat from 10 am to 6pm on Saturday… The BJP introduced the system of mandate in the cooperatives that captured the institutions meant to run through cooperation. The Congress will fight against this in the coming days.' Chavda said that the party was keen to bring about changes necessary for strengthening the organisational structure. 'Therefore, in the training camp, the agenda for the next two-and-half-years will be decided, beginning with the first goal: Taluka Panchayat, Municipal Corporations and Municipality elections. Before the polls, the Congress' organisational structure has to be strengthened at various levels…' he said further. 'Today Gujarat is facing many issues, including unemployment of youth, injustice against women, traders facing obstacles…There is corruption everywhere. Bridges are falling and people have died… it has made people lose their trust in the government,' Chavda added.
