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Congress leader K Muraleedharan lashed out at party colleague Shashi Tharoor, saying that he will not be invited to any programme of the party in Thiruvananthapuram until he changes his stance on the national security issue. According to news agency PTI, Muraleedharan said that Tharoor, also a Congress Working Committee (CWC) member, was no longer considered as one of us.

"He said that the party's national leadership will decide what action was required against the Congress MP.Till he (Tharoor) changes his stance, we will not invite him to any party programme held in Thiruvananthapuram. He is not with us, so there is no question of him boycotting an event," Muraleedharan said.

Tharoor was replying to the query of reporters' seeking his view on Tharoor sticking to his stand on the issue of national security.

Nation Comes First: Tharoor

The response of Muraleedharan came a day after Tharoor said that the nation comes first and parties are the means of making the country better. The Congress MP had also said that many people have been very critical of him because of his stand supporting the armed forces and the central government in connection with what happened recently in the country and its borders. But I will stand my ground because I believe this is the right thing for the country, he had said at an event in Kochi on Saturday.

The Congress leader had also said that when people like him call for cooperating with other parties in the interests of national security, their own parties feel that it's disloyal to them, and that becomes a big problem.

Earlier, Muraleedharan had taken a swipe at Tharoor over the sharing of a survey suggesting he is the UDF's most preferred choice for Chief Minister, saying he should first decide which party he belongs to. Muraleedharan had taken the swipe at the Thiruvananthapuram MP amid a widening rift between Tharoor and the party's central leadership over his reactions following the Pahalgam terror attack, which have drawn sharp criticism within the Congress, with some of his comments seen as putting the party on the defensive.

(With PTI inputs.)