The Congress has removed Shashi Tharoor from the post of party spokesperson following praise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi by him. In a statement, party General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi said that the Congress has accepted the recommendation of disciplinary committee in this regard. Kerala Unit of the party had demanded action against Mr. Tharoor for his pro-Modi stance.

Thiruvananthpuram MP had lauded NDA government's Swachh Bharat campaign and responded positively to Mr. Modi's invitation to join it. However, he later said that he is a proud Congressman and had not endorsed the agenda of the BJP.

Congress has said, the action against Shashi Tharoor has been taken as party workers were agitated over his comments praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Briefing media in New Delhi today, party spokesperson Shobha Oza said, though Mr Tharoor is not an official spokesperson, he is still a leader of the party.

Meanwhile, Shashi Tharoor accepted the party decision. In a statement, he however regretted that he did not get an opportunity to respond to the charges leveled against him by the party unit of Kerala.