‘There is a limit to political desperation’: Kiren Rijiju backs Shashi Tharoor amid criticism from Congress

Union minister Kiren Rijiju has come out in support of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who has been facing criticism from his own party leaders over a speech he had made in Panama on India’s Operation Sindoor.

“There is a limit to political desperation,” Rijiju said in a post on X on Wednesday night.

“What does the Congress party want & how much do they really care for the country? Should the Indian MPs go to a foreign nation and speak against India and its prime minister?” he asked.

Tharoor, part of an all-party delegation visiting multiple countries, said in his speech that India crossed the Line of Control for the first time in 2016 during a surgical strike on a terror base.

His remarks ruffled feathers in the Congress party, with senior leader Udit Raj accusing the Thiruvananthapuram MP of denigrating the party's history. Highlighting the past events of the Indian Army crossing the border when Congress was in power, Raj asked how Tharoor could be so “dishonest” to the party.

In the sharply worded post, Raj further accused his party colleague of being a super spokesperson of the BJP.

Later, senior leaders Pawan Khera and Jairam Ramesh came out endorsing Raj’s social media post. Khera cited former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s statement that many surgical strikes were conducted under the UPA government.

Khera also quoted External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s statement before a parliamentary committee that India had carried out counter-terrorist operations across the LoC in the past too.