Decision on Tharoor based on Kerala unit's report: Congress

The Congress Monday said Shashi Tharoor's removal as a party spokesman has nothing to do with the controversial death of his wife and was only based on a report by the disciplinary committee of the party's Kerala unit.

"The issue was there for the last few months. Shashi Tharoor's statements were coming and Kerala (Pradesh) Congress Committee had expressed its objections and sent a report to the Congress president which she accepted," Congress spokesperson Shobha Oza told the media here.

"It has nothing to do with (Tharoor's wife) Sunanda (Pushkar)," she said.

Pushkar, 52, was found dead in a mysterious condition in her room at a five-star hotel in south Delhi Jan 17.

The Congress Monday removed Tharoor as a party spokesperson. The action came after his party colleagues in Kerala criticised him for praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Tharoor is a Lok Sabha member from Thiruvananthapuram constituency.

He was also one of the nine people nominated by Modi for his Clean India campaign, which he accepted to the displeasure of many in the Congress.

Oza said: "He is still a Congress leader and the chairperson of the standing committee on external affairs."

She said as far as the Clean India campaign is concerned, if somebody is potraying that they are following Mahatma Gandhi, then it is not right.

She said the Modi government was re-launching all the Congress schemes. The Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan was re-launched as the Swacch Bharat campaign.

"They are busy with re-launching and re-naming of all programmes," she alleged.