'PM Was Talking About Beef': Shashi Tharoor Takes A Dig At PM Modi With List Of Corruption-Accused Turncoats

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday shared a list of politicians who joined BJP after allegations of corruption were levelled against them and said PM Modi's talks of anti-corruption were false.

Shashi Tharoor expressed his confusion over the slogan's meaning and said, "I guess he was only talking about beef," in an obvious reference to the PM's support for the beef ban in India. ( Image Source :PTI )

Senior Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's anti-corruption slogan 'na khaunga, na khane dunga' (will neither take bribes nor allow others to do so). Tharoor tweeted a list of eight leaders associated with the BJP and its allies who were facing corruption allegations before joining the party, including Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and former Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa. 

Other names on the list were Suvendu Adhikari, Bhavna Gawli, Yashwant Jadhav, Yamini Jadhav, Pratap Sarnaik, and Narayan Rane.

Narayan Rane, who started his political career with the Shiv Sena, joined the Congress in 2005. But later formed a new political party in 2017 and merged it with the BJP in 2019. Rane was accused of money laundering and land scams. Himanta Biswa Sarma, who faced corruption allegations in the Louis Berger case, was called a key suspect by the BJP during their campaign against him. However, the saffron party inducted him in 2015 and went on to elevate him to the post of CM.

Shashi Tharoor said that he always wondered about the slogan's meaning and said, "I guess he was only talking about beef," hinting that the at Prime Minister Modi's support for the beef ban in India. The tweet comes just days after Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with alleged irregularities in a liquor excise policy case.

Tharoor's tweet came in the wake of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge's demand for an investigation by a  Joint Parliamentary Committee into allegations against the Adani Group. Kharge asked about the PM's slogan and questioned if it was just a "jumla." 

In 2014, Narendra Modi had famously stated that he would neither take bribes nor allow others to do so.