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‘Leaders who can speak well…’: BJP MP's dig at Congress for 'not allowing' Shashi Tharoor to speak
The reaction comes hours after Tharoor told reporters he was on a "maun vrat" while responding to a question of whether he would be speaking in Parliament.
BJP leader Baijayant Jay Panda on Monday took a dig at the Congress over the discussion in the Parliament on Operation Sindoor, saying that the party is not allowing Shashi Tharoor to speak in the Lok Sabha.
Panda, while participating in a special discussion on 'India's strong, successful and decisive Operation Sindoor in response to the terror attack in Pahalgam', alleged that several Congress leaders who can speak well are not allowed to speak by the party.
"There are several leaders in your (Congress) party who can speak well... My friend Shashi Tharoor Ji, who is a good speaker, is not allowed to speak by his party," the BJP leader said, according to PTI.
The reaction from the BJP camp comes hours after Tharoor told reporters he was on a "maun vrat" while responding to a question of whether he would be speaking in Parliament on Operation Sindoor.
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The Congress had asked its Congress MP Shashi Tharoor if he was interested in speaking during the debate, but the latter declined, PTI quoted sources as saying.
There have been speculations on a rift between Tharoor and the Congress, especially after the Congress MP was part of the delegation on Operation Sindoor, during which he made several remarks which were received with criticism from a section of party leaders.
Meanwhile, Panda said that the approach of the Congress governments in the past was only to increase cooperation with Pakistan and not to retaliate and teach them a lesson.
He said that Operation Sindoor was an attack on terrorists in Pakistan, and not on civilians.
"This is not a reaction, this is Modi's doctrine, which Pakistan has understood… This is a new normal," Panda said, adding that it is shameful that the opposition only questions the Indian armed forces and not Pakistan.
He also accused the previous Congress governments of appeasing Pakistan instead of taking retaliatory actions.
