Congress' Shashi Tharoor defends Kejriwal's remarks on PM Modi's age, calls it right to point out "contradiction"

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 12 : Congress leader Shashi Tharoor came to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's defence on Sunday after the latter's remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's age stirred a row.
Defending ally partner's remarks, the Congress leader, while addressing a press conference in Maharashtra's Mumbai on Sunday, said that Kejriwal is "right to point this contradiction out."
Tharoor claimed that there is no need to wait till September 2025 but a change of Prime Minister will happen in June 2024 refering to the counting day of Lok Sabha elections.
"We saw two statements one after the other, one is Amit Shah saying PM Modi insists that everyone should step down at 75, then the next day we saw Amit Shah saying PM Modi will continue till 2029. So, journalists should ask Amit Shah which one is right. Kejriwal is right to point this contradiction out," Tharoor said.
"If PM Modi turns 75 in September 2025, according to his official records, on September 2025 are we going to see a change of Prime Minister or will there be an exception for one man? But in any case, we don't have to wait till September 2025, there would be a change of PM in June 2024," the Congress leader said.
Earlier on Saturday, Kejriwal, while addressing his first press conference after getting interim bail from the Supreme Court in Delhi excise policy case, said, "These people ask the INDIA alliance who will be their Prime Minister. I ask the BJP: who will be your Prime Minister? PM Modi is turning 75, on September 17. He made a rule that leaders in the party would retire after 75 years."
Refering to BJP veterans who retired from office of Prime Minister at the age of 75, Kejriwal said, "LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sumitra Mahajan, and Yashwant Sinha were retired and now PM Modi is going to retire on 17th September. If their government is formed, they will first dispose of Yogi Adityanath and then make Amit Shah the Prime Minister of the country. PM Modi is asking for votes for Amit Shah. Will Amit Shah fulfil Modi's guarantee?"
Addressing the press conference, Tharoor also expressed confidence in seeing a "wave of change" in the country as he called the ongoing elections "very important."
"Everybody has to be given an equal opportunity in the country and I'm here to say that we stand for a very different conception of India, very different idea of India from what the BJP represents and thats why this election is very important. Seeing the first three phases, it looks like there is a wave of change," Tharoor said.
The Congress leader also emphasised on the party's alliance in Maharashtra upholding the unity as he expressed confidence of forming a coalition government on June 4.
"I'm very happy that we have two strong allys. Our allys are there with us. They are standing by us. They are standing along with us. And its because they see mutual respect. In BJP's NDA there is no mutual respect and that's why embarassingly and almost humiliatingly Mr Modi went after the Akali Dal and the BJD. Both the parties spurned him and said no we prefer to contest on our own. thats because they have seen the excperience of what it is like to work with the BJP. whereas we believe that the parties that we have shown respect to they will show us respect when the time comes to form the coalition government of India after the 4th of June," he said.
Tharoor also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that the latter is running a "parliamentary system presidentially" as he called it "worst of both worlds."
"We are not talking about a Presidential system in our country. I'm sorry to say Mr Modi is running the parliamentary system presidentially which is the worst of both worlds. In a parliamentary system you don't vote for an individual you vote for parties, ideologies, principles and policies and at the end of all of that what happens is that the victorious parties come together and identify a suitable leader that enjoys the support of all of them probably based on a common minimum programme," he said.
"At the same time as we saw on 2004, Dr Manmohan Singh ran an excellent coalition government for 10 years. I must say Mr Vajpayee did a wonderful job of managing a 26-party coalition for six years. So coalition governments are nothing for the country to worry about. There are infact a track record of coalition governments in India...," Tharoor added.
Tharoor contested from Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram, that voted on April 26 in the second phase. The Congress leader is seeking a fourth term from the seat and was pitted against BJP heavyweight and Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
The voting for 48 seats in Maharashtra, is held in five phases. The polling has concluded in 24 seats in the first three phases and the remaining seats will vote on May 13 and 20 in the fourth and fifth phases. The results will be announced on June 4.