‘Avoid comments that appease BJP’: KC Venugopal to Cong leaders after Tharoor’s CJP remarks

KC
Ve ugopal
( ight)
u ges
Co g ess
leade s
to
be
ca eful
while
speaki g
amid
ow
ove
Shashi
Tha oo ‘s
CJP
ema ks
(File
photo)

NEW
DELHI:

Co g ess
ge e al
sec eta y
KC
Ve ugopal
o
Su day
u ged
pa ty
leade s
to
“exe cise
cautio ”
a d
avoid
maki g
ema ks
that
could
“please
the
BJP.”Ve ugopal
was
espo di g
to
questio s
about
Co g ess
leade

Shashi
Tha oo ’s
comme ts
suggesti g
that
Rahul
Ga dhi’s
“Chhat o
Ki
Goo j”
stude t
out each
p og amme
had
failed
to
eso ate
with
Ge
Z
as
much
as
the
Cock oach
Ja ata
Pa ty
(CJP)-led
p otests.

“Eve
if
Co g ess
membe s
do
ot
always
st ictly
abide
by
pa ty
f amewo ks
o
discipli e,
we
must
be
ca eful
to
avoid
maki g
stateme ts
that
me ely
appease
the
BJP.
The
BJP
will
be
delighted
if
someo e
fi ds
fault
with
Rahul
Ga dhi
o
says
two
egative
thi gs
about
him—it
would
be
the
happiest
thi g
fo
them,”
PTI
quoted
the
Alappuzha
MP
as
sayi g.Howeve ,
Ve ugopal
cla ified
that
he
did
ot
believe
Tha oo
had
made
the
ema ks
delibe ately.“I
have
o ly
see
his
(Tha oo ’s)
stateme t
epo ted
by
some
media
cha els,
as
fa
as
I
k ow.
I
have ’t
bee
able
to
hea
exactly
what
he
said.
All
of
us
should
take
ca e,
whethe
k owi gly
o
u k owi gly—a d
I
do ’t
believe
he
said
it
k owi gly,
o
is
he
likely
to
have
said
it
i te tio ally—to
ef ai
f om
maki g
such
ema ks,”
the
se io
Co g ess
leade
added.

Tha oo ,
while
speaki g
at
a
eve t
i
Maha asht a
o
F iday,
had
eplied
i
the
affi mative
whe
asked
whethe
the
“Chhat o
Ki
Goo j”
p og amme
had
failed
to
eso ate
with
you g
people
as
much
as
the
CJP
agitatio ,
despite
both
aisi g
simila
issues.

“Co ect.
A d
that’s
why
we
eed
to
ask
ou selves
what
we
failed
to
do,”
the
Thi uva a thapu am
MP
eplied.
“Did
we
fail
to
liste ?
Did
we
fail
to
tap
i to
the
old
cliché
of
havi g
ou
fi ge
o
the
pulse
of
the
people?
Was
ou
fi ge
missi g
f om
the
pulse
of
Ge
Z?
That’s
somethi g
we
eally
eed
to
i te ogate.”A
day
late ,
howeve ,
Tha oo
c iticised
the
media
fo
allegedly
i te p eti g
his
ema ks
as
“a
attack
o
my
ow
pa ty
o
its
leade ship.”He
mai tai ed
that
his
comme ts
we e
mea t
to
st ess
the
eed
fo
political
pa ties
to
ope
thei
doo s
a d
c eate
pathways
fo
the
ext
ge e atio
to
play
a
g eate
ole
i
shapi g
politics.