Days after Congress leader Jairam Ramesh made remarks hailing PM Modi, senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily has on Wednesday alleged that Ramesh was responsible for "policy paralysis" during the UPA-2 government. Hitting out over praise for PM Modi, Veerappa Moily also slammed Congress MP Shashi Tharoor for his statement. Tharoor had said that praising the Prime Minister for doing the right things would lend credibility to the opposition's criticism of him. Veerappa Moily termed the statement made by the Thiruvananthapuram MP "most unfortunate" and called for appropriate disciplinary action against Jairam Ramesh and Shashi Tharoor by the Congress leadership.

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Speaking to news agency PTI, Veerappa Moily countered the remarks made by Jairam Ramesh, saying "as if the Congress is demonising (Modi)". Moily claimed that Jairam Ramesh's remark was in "very bad taste," and charged him with "compromising himself" with the BJP with such a statement. 

"And any leader who would like to give such a statement, I think, they are not doing service to Congress party or its leadership. Because they enjoy power as Ministers, once they come in the opposition, they would keep a bridge with the ruling party. He (Ramesh) is responsible for policy paralysis of our Government (UPA-2) and he is also responsible for compromising the principles of governance many a time," Veerappa Moily said in an interview to PTI. 

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Moily calls for action on Congress leaders

In a sharp attack at Tharoor, Moily claimed that the Congress Lok Sabha MP was never considered as a mature politician. Moily further called for the Congress leadership to take disciplinary action against the two leaders. 

"I don't think his statement could be taken that seriously. He has to become a serious politician. That's our plea. I think time is now for the Congress party to take appropriate disciplinary action and also warn these people... (those) who want to go out (of the Congress party), let them go out very straightforwardly; not sabotaging the party and its ideology being within the party. We should not delay (taking those steps) just because there are elections (coming up) in two-three States. Every time there will be excuse of elections", the former Karnataka Chief Minister added.

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Congress hails PM Modi

Earlier, Jairam Ramesh's remarks lauding PM Modi's developmental work got the backing of an ever-expanding array of netas from the party. Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor joined the league in praising the Prime Minister. Tharoor said that he argued for six years that PM Modi should be praised whenever he says or does the right thing, adding that it would add credibility to the criticism whenever the Prime Minister would err. Shashi Tharoor went on to welcome other Opposition and Congress leaders to share their views on a matter for which he was "excoriated" at the time. Speaking at an event, Jairam Ramesh had warned the Opposition leaders. He had said that PM Modi's governance model is not a "complete negative story". Jairam Ramesh had added that not recognising Modi's work and demonising him all the time is not going to help.

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(With PTI inputs)