New Delhi/IBNS: Hours after Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge snubbed senior party leader Shashi Tharoor over his praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Thiruvananthapuram MP put up a post on X that was widely seen as a reply to his party colleagues' barbs.

"Don't ask permission to fly. The wings are yours. And the sky belongs to no one," read the message with a bird's photograph.

Amid a row over Tharoor's praise for Prime Minister Modi, Kharge said on Wednesday that it's "country first for us, but for some people, it's Modi first."

This is, by far, the strongest snub to Tharoor from the Congress leadership.

The row gained traction after Shashi Tharoor, in his opinion piece for a prominent English daily this week, lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'energy, dynamism and willingness to engage (with other countries)' post-Operation Sindoor, stating that this should not be viewed as him 'leaping to join' the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

In the article, Tharoor praises PM Modi as a 'prime asset' for India and calls for 'greater support' for the PM.

Facing backlash from his party and amid speculations of his joining the saffron camp, Tharoor on Tuesday said the article was a statement of national unity and about standing up for India.

"It is not a sign of my leaping to join the Prime Minister's party... as some people have, unfortunately, been implying. It is a statement of national unity... national interest... and standing up for India," the four-time Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha MP said at an event in Moscow.

The Congress distanced itself from Tharoor's remark on Tuesday.

"It may be his own opinion, it is not the opinion of the Congress party. It is not the Congress's view since we have presented our views with evidence and proof," party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate told the media.

Kharge on Wednesday said Tharoor is very fluent in English. "I can't read English well. His language is very good. That's why we have made him a Congress Working Committee member," he said.

Tharoor's article - 'Lessons from Operation Sindoor's global outreach' - was published on Monday morning by The Hindu and was also shared by the PMO X handle.

However, the fact that the PMO shared the article had raised speculations about whether Tharoor is contemplating a switch from the Congress to the BJP.

Shashi Tharoor, who has had differences of opinion with party colleagues of late, earlier said he has been loyal to the Congress for the last 16 years and that disagreements can be sorted "behind closed doors" with the people concerned.

The Centre's move to pick Shashi Tharoor to lead an outreach delegation to the US did not go well with his party, especially his praises about Prime Minister Narendra Modi on handling the Pahalgam terror attack and then Operation Sindoor have pissed off a section of Congress leaders.