'Tharoor's presence at Kerala port inauguration will give sleepless nights to many': Modi's jibe at Opposition

Thiruvananthapuram: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday took a dig at the I.N.D.I.A. bloc by stating that the presence of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor along with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at the commissioning of the Vizhinjam international seaport in Thiruvananthapuram could give sleepless nights to many.

"I would like to tell Vijayan, who is a strong pillar of I.N.D.I.A bloc, that presence of Shashi Tharoor at this event could give sleepless nights to many," Modi said in his address at the commissioning of the Vizhinjam port.

Modi's jibe seems to have come in the wake of recent criticisms faced by Tharoor from the Congress for his remarks on Kerala's industrial growth under the Vijayan government as well as his remark that the Pahalgam terror attack could be due to intelligence failure similar to the Hamas attack on Israel.

Tharoor did not have an opportunity to speak at the Vizhinjam port commissioning programme. He is also yet to react on any other platforms on Modi's jibe.

Meanwhile, AICC general secretary K C Venugopal reacted that it would be Modi who will be having sleepless nights soon as the I.N.D.I.A bloc would be stepping up pressure to give strong reply to Pakistan for the Pahalgam terror attack as well as for fixing timeframe for caste census.

Venugopal also flayed that the Prime Minister was playing petty politics during the commissioning of a major infrastructure project of the country. He also did not tell anything about Pahalgam. The Chief Minister should have swiftly reacted to Modi's statement.

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president K Sudhakaran said that even as Modi tried to give sleepless nights to I.N.D.I.A bloc leader Rahul Gandhi by initiating fake cases, it was Modi who was having sleepless nights.

Interestingly, Modi's jibe at I.N.D.I.A. bloc in Hindi couldn't be properly translated to Malayalam by the interpreter.

The interpreter's version on Modi's jibe was that, "focus should be given on airlines related issues too."

As it invoked laughter from the audience, Modi added, "the message has gone to its destination."

The interpreter later justified that he missed to properly translate it owing to disturbances in the audio system.