‘My attitude has been…’: Shashi Tharoor on praising PM Modi's US visit

Shashi Tharoor had commented on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the United States, saying that big concerns were addressed during the meeting.

Congress Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday responded to criticism over his praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's US visit and Kerala's Left Democratic Front government.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor during the Budget session of Parliament on February 10(PTI)

“For 16 years, I have been in politics. My attitude has been that when somebody in the government, whether it's our government or some other party's government, does the right thing or does something well, one should acknowledge and praise it, and when they do something badly, one should criticise it,” Tharoor told ANI.

“If I were to praise all the time, no one would take me seriously. If I were to criticise all the time, no one would take me seriously either...There's got to be some give and take in democracy.”

The Congress MP also said that while there have been outcomes in favour of the Indian people, some questions about PM Modi's Washington visit still remain.

“Why did the question of the way in which those illegal immigrants were returned to India not get addressed?... Did PM Modi raise it behind closed doors?... I welcome the fact that there is now an agreement to have a negotiation for the next 9 months on trade and tariffs. It's far better than Washington hastily and unilaterally imposing some tariffs on us, which could have damaged and hurt our exports.” Tharoor said.

The Congress MP also added: "It seems to me that something good has been achieved, and I applaud that as an Indian. We can't always speak only in terms of party interests.

What Tharoor had said earlier

Earlier on Friday, Tharoor commented on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the United States, saying that big concerns were addressed during the meeting.

Tharoor said the joint press conference addressed by the two leaders suggested that the talks were good.

"To hear a man like Donald Trump, whose defence secretary yesterday (Thursday) called him the greatest negotiator in the world, announcing that the Indian prime minister was a better negotiator than he was, that sounds like something Mr Modi can put in the bank, that sounds very good," Tharoor had said."

He also wrote an article in a newspaper praising Kerala’s startup economy under the ruling LDF alliance. Tharoor's praise for PM Modi and the Kerala government, however, did not go well with the Kerala Congress leaders.

According to Onmanorama, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) leadership has submitted a letter of dissent against Tharoor to All India Congress Committee (AICC) High Command.

Congress' VD Satheesan also questioned the credibility of Tharoor's data on startups in Kerala.