Udit Raj targeting Tharoor at Rahul Gandhi's behest for keeping national interest above party: BJP

New Delhi, May 28 (PTI) The BJP on Tuesday alleged that Congress leader Udit Raj has been attacking his party colleague Shashi Tharoor at the behest of Rahul Gandhi because the Kerala MP kept national interest above his party and Gandhi family when it came to exposing Pakistan at the international forum.

This came after Udit Raj slammed Tharoor, who is leading a multi-party delegation to five countries after Operation Sindoor, for his reported remarks at an event in Panama that India breached the Line of Control for the first time during the 2016 surgical strike on a terror base.

Raj said Tharoor should immediately be made the "super spokesperson of the BJP" and accused him of denigrating Congress' history.

Reacting sharply, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla alleged the Congress has deployed Udit Raj to attack Tharoor at the behest of Gandhi at a time when a multi-party Indian delegation, led by the Congress MP, is abroad to expose Pakistan at the international forum.

He said the Congress, "which is launching missiles at its own leader", won’t say a word against Pakistan.

“Shashi Tharoor is being attacked at the behest of Rahul Gandhi because Shashi Tharoor kept India first not (Gandhi) family. He talked about national interest, not his party’s interest. He is being attacked because he kept national policy above the vote bank (politics)," Poonawalla told PTI.

The Congress, which asserted in the all-party meeting that it is with the country and Indian armed forces on the issue, has continuously been displaying double standards in its behaviour, he charged.

The BJP spokesperson referred to the recent statements of Gandhi and other Congress leaders, including party president Mallikarjun Kahrage’s “chut-put yuddh‘ (sporadic skirmish) remark on ‘Operation Sindoor’, and alleged that the opposition party is engaged in giving “clean chit” to Pakistan on the April 22 Pahalgam terror strike.

“Today, the Congress, while talking like Pakistan’s DG ISPR (Ahmed Sharif Choudhry), is launching missiles at its own leader (Shashi Tharoor). It won’t say a word against Pakistan. It will give clean chit to Pakistan,” Poonwalla charged. PTI PK RT