Shashi Tharoor dares Congress, to take up PM Modi's Clean India challenge today

Thiruvananthapuram: This is a further boost to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat campaign but the move could spell trouble for Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. The Congress leader has decided to take up the PM's Clean India challenge and will take part in the campaign at a beach in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.

Tharoor tweeted, "Vizhinjam Beach, a splendid site ruined by filth and garbage, which I will clean with local residents tomorrow 25/10 at 11am."

Tharoor was recently removed as Congress spokesperson for praising Narendra Modi.

The Kerala Congress and the leader had been involved in a bitter war of words over the latter's support for the Prime Minister's cleanliness campaign. As the party mulled action against him, Tharoor defended himself saying the party had failed to understand his logic.

"No one from the Kerala Congress has contacted me even though they have the numbers. I wish they had bothered to understand what I was trying to say. We should not be seen as opposing Gandhi's principles. Instead Congress should have taken the initiative," Tharoor had said.

"Of course I will oppose the Swachh Bharat campaign if it's reduced to a day-old photo ops. As politicians we have to think of India and not be reduced to narrow politics," he had said after the Kerala Congress recommended disciplinary action against him.