Tharoor dismayed by 'negative' Congress reaction to PM Modi's 'Swachh Bharat' invite to him

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday expressed his dismay over members of his party criticising his joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan', stating that the Prime Minister had specifically addressed him as a Congress party member.

"I was a bit surprised by the criticism of some Congress members. When the Prime Minister invited me to join the Swachh Bharat campaign, he specifically addressed me as a Congress leader and an MP," Tharoor told ANI.

"I have written an article where I wrote that for Mahatma Gandhi, sanitation was as important as independence. I saw the issue as one of Mahatma Gandhi's dreams," he added.

Tharoor further claimed that Prime Minister Modi had acknowledged the role of earlier governments towards a clean India.

"The Congress party had started sanitation programmes and then the Vajpayee government changed it to a total sanitation programme. It was further changed to Nirmal Bharat Abhiyaan by the UPA government. Prime Minister Modi has in fact acknowledged the work done by the previous governments," he said.

The former Minister of State also said that joining the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan for him was moving beyond politics and insisted that the campaign was for the benefit of India.

"The Prime Minister has reached out to other eight non-BJP members and I was the ninth one. We are in politics to serve India and there should be a sustained effort to take the programmes of sanitation ahead. I am concerned that there has been misconception on this issue amongst my colleagues. Let us all put India first," he said.

On Monday, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president V M Sudheeran, reminding Tharoor that he had been elected on a Congress ticket, had warned the Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram that disciplinary action would be initiated against him if he kept on eulogising Modi.