Bhubaneswar, Oct. 6: The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) was aghast with Union minister Sashi Tharoor’s remark on a possible tie-up of the Congress with arch rivals BJD. Tharoor made the comment during a visit to the state last week.
The PCC has brought the issue to the notice of the Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
Stating that Tharoor’s statement has demoralised party workers, Jaydev Jena said: “Tharoor has defied the party’s norms. According to the party’s rules, it is mandatory for a leader to contact the PCC office before talking to the media. Without knowing any thing about Odisha, the way he made the statement indicates his political immaturity.”
Jena said Tharoor had no authority to speak about Odisha. “We were all astonished to see the way he went to the state secretariat, met the chief minister and heaped praises on the Odisha government.” “The style of functioning of the BJD and Congress is different and so are their goals. There is no question of any tie-up with them,” he said.
Congress leaders also questioned how Tharoor skipped visiting the Congress Bhavan.
During his visit to Odisha, Tharoor had said the Congress’ door was always open for Naveen Patnaik.
“But, it is not my place to work in the area. I have a different role. But, I know, many in our party have a high level of respect for Naveen Patnaik for taking up leadership in Odisha. Naveen leads a secular party with which the Congress has no basic fundamental difference,” he had said .