On the question of the reaction of the Congress party over the fact that the UPA government has slapped sedition charges against some Kashmiri youths who were raising pro-Pakistan slogans, Shri Tharoor said he is not aware of this. I have to admit that this is something which I am not aware of it. I will have to check it. Let me say, obviously the government takes some decision and the party is not fully briefed off. This particular incident clearly sedition charges, I am not aware of that and at what level the decision was taken, whether it is approved by the Home Minister, I am not aware of that.

To a question that Shri Rahul Gandhi has always been talking of fighting corruption by bringing in legislations and in view of the alliance with RJD whether he will share the dais with Shri Laloo Prasad Yadav who is convicted, Shri Tharoor said the alliance is with the party and not just with an individual. Though the individual is the leader of the party and as you know he is following a legal process of appealing his conviction and the legal process is to be allowed to play itself out but we in making alliance has made the decision about the values of the party and not by the specific individual merits or demerits of individuals. Let me stress in what I am telling you, there is nothing terribly unusual. This political alliance is with another party. We have not made Shri Laloo Prasad Yadav a member of our party. What we have seen in Gujarat in comparison is that three Ministers of Gujarat government who have been convicted and against whom strictures have been passed by the court are continuing as Ministers in the government of Shri Narendra Modi. As far as we are concerned, we have no Ministers in our government compared to the three Ministers of Gujarat government. Shri Tharoor further said there is no problem if we share dais during the forthcoming election with Shri Laloo Prasad Yadav since his party is our political ally. He said as far as principles are concerned, the principle remains the same. If the conviction in the end is upheld, do not forget Mr. Yadav was convicted; he resigned from parliament and the Congress party welcomed that as it was right in keeping with law. So the fact is we are        quite prepared to accept that there is certain consequences that follow from conviction. At the same time in our country there is a process of appealing. While that is going on, there is no stricture on you participating in the electoral process but let me stress the alliance is with the party, it is with the set of ideas and values which we believe are congenial to us. The RJD is a secular party, we find it in Bihar and, therefore, we do not have any particular difficulty in allying with RJD as a party.

To a question as to whose shirt is more white, Shri Tharoor said that would depend on the detergent, we are talking about the deterrent.  The law is a deterrent. The law should take its own course. Shri Tharoor said the Congress party has always believed in rule by the people which means our law should ideally be passed by the parliament but as you known some of these laws are 2-3 years pending because the parliament has not been able to function for most of the time. The fact is the opposition has cost parliament an extraordinary amount of man hours for many-many sessions. So we are looking at irresponsible conduct by the opposition as a result of which many Bills have been pending. If parliament is not allowed to function, only then we are prepared to contemplate the ordinance route because fundamentally we believe something is good for the nation and there is absolutely no chance of it being passed in parliament, only then we will contemplate the ordinance route. Shri Tharoor further said there was a discussion in the cabinet about the propriety of coming up with ordinances but coming up with ordinances and that there was very little shelf life in our government, therefore, we should not proceed.

To another question that many of the congress leaders are leaving the party, Shri Tharoor said one or two individuals may have decided to leave the party. Some of whom have been valued colleagues. We regret their departure but in politics, sadly there have been comings and goings throughout the history of Indian political history. We will have to move on.

 On the question of the reaction of the Congress party over Shri Kejriwal visit of Gujarat and the clashes between the AAP workers and the BJP workers at Delh and Arrest me politics as shown by Arwind Kejriwal in Gujarat, Shri Tharoor said frankly what we have seen I must say is what happens when the forces of violence and hatred encounter the forces of anarchy,. Is this the kind of irresponsible politics the country wants to see? From our point of view, our party is not involved either way. We condemn violence whosoever perpetrates it and if both sides are guilty, the law should take its own course but for us. It was really a revelation to the nation of the kind of politics that awaits us amongst the so-called alternatives to the UPA and that to us is bad enough. Shri Tharoor added courting arrest appears to be a time honoured practice in our political history. We have to see now on whether they are also appropriate for responsible governance but that is a different issue and as far as we are concerned the situation in Gujarat going out of hands throwing stones and attacks on people, violence, this is condemnable and the Congress party condemns it unequivocally.      

 On the Udaan programme of NSUI, Shri Tharoor said that NSUI flight has already taken off. They are much ascending and continue to go. The Congress party and the UPA have been in full flight for ten years and we believe that we have covered a long distance. Right now one more election the nation is going, if they are ready to refuel us one more flight. We are ready to fly.

 On another question on the reaction of the Congress party over Shri Rashid Alvi writing a letter to the Prime Minister and also the Congress President saying the decision to award reservations to Jats not only hurt the sentiments of the Muslims but also the other backward classes in the country, Shri Tharoor said we don�t believe the crimes are committed by entire communities or castes. These are committed by specific individuals who must be held accountable. We would in no way exonerate any individual who committed the crime particularly the crime of violence and particularly a crime of violence against hapless minority population. We dont ascribe a pattern of conduct of the entire community or the entire caste. So certainly we would not accept the preposition that an entire community is to be blamed for an act of violence just as we are not blaming all Gujaratis for what happened in 2002 in Gujarat but only those who have the power to prevent it. Similarly we cannot blame all Jats or all Hindus for what happened in 2014.

 On the question whether Arwind Kejriwal is acquiring the space of the Congress party in Gujarat, Shri Tharoor said the space of the Congress party very much remains. We are the second largest party in Gujarat assembly. No one can just take that space very easily. Where the AAP is being useful n opening the eyes of people, is a voice other than Congress in showing the deficiencies of the Gujarat�s model of development so called, showing some of the myths that has been unleashed by the marketing gurus of Gujarat. The Congress party wants Gujarat to develop. Our only concern is that Mr. Modi is pretending a number of things which are simply not supported by the facts. We would rather welcome the journalists going to Gujarat and finding more about what is the reality behind the myth. Mr. Kejriwal is doing the job which the media could have done too. I think he is helping the Indian people by making the public aware of the reality behind the myths that Mr. Modi�s marketers have been applauding.

 To another question on the situation in Kerala with regard to the Kasturi Ranjan report, Shri Tharoor said I am told that the only delay is procedural. That is the government has taken a decision that habitation, farm lands and plantations will be exempt from the classification of economically sensitive areas. This is a policy decision that has been conveyed by the Ministry of Environment and Forest. However, when you write the rules for notification, there are certain processes to be gone through which I am sure is the only reason for the delay but as far as I understand it does not question the policy. It is the question of how the rules will be written for notification to be issued. That is the assurance that we have had.

 To a question on the reservation on economic basis, Shri Tharoor said it is an interesting issue that has been raised too late in the political calendar. Shri Janardan Dwivedi raised this issue not long ago. It has now been raised by a number of students of NSUI. We are embarking on election campaign. I think if these are important issues in the minds of young people of our country, there is legitimate ground for discussing this after the elections inside the party forums. There is an political constituency behind this and if the issue is to been reopened, the time will come after the elections for calm reflection within each party and certainly if our students in our party want to raise it, they have every right to do, we will discuss honestly but right now the existing policy of the party is in favour of the existing system of reservation and we are not reopening this issue during this election.

 To another question as to why Shri Rahul Gandhi cannot do the mass contact programme as Arwind Kejriwal is doing, Shri Tharoor said  Shri Rahul Gandhi has entire country to focus on.  Mr. Kejriwal is a fledging party leader who is present in one State. I can convey your suggestion to the Hon�ble Congress vice President but his programme is made by his office.