![\"KC](\"https:\/\/images.bhaskarassets.com\/web2images\/1884\/2026\/08\/09\/logo-composite151786274915569_1786275151.jpg\"){kind=logo}
<\/picture><\/div>\nKC Venugopal has responded to Shashi Tharoor’s comments on Rahul Gandhi. (File photo)<\/span><\/p>\n Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal on Sunday urged party leaders to refrain from making statements that could please the BJP. He was responding to senior leader Shashi Tharoor\u2019s remarks about Rahul Gandhi.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to media reports, Tharoor said at an event on Friday that Rahul Gandhi\u2019s Students\u2019 programme had failed to make as much impact among Gen Z as the protests led by the \u2018Cockroach Janta Party.<\/p>\n Venugopal said he had only read reports of Tharoor\u2019s remarks in the media and had not heard exactly what he said. He added that Tharoor should be asked directly about his comments.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Venugopal says caution is needed while making public statements<\/strong><\/span> Venugopal said he did not believe Tharoor had made the remarks intentionally.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all need to be careful, whether intentionally or unintentionally. We need to exercise caution when making public statements,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Venugopal added that if anyone criticises Rahul Gandhi or makes negative remarks about him, the BJP would be \u201cvery happy\u201d, calling it the \u201chappiest thing\u201d for the party.<\/p>\n August 7: Tharoor says, \u2018We need to ask where we went wrong\u2019<\/strong><\/span> At an event in Maharashtra on Friday, Tharoor said Rahul Gandhi\u2019s \u2018Students\u2019 Echo\u2019 programme raised the same issues as those highlighted by the \u2018Cockroach Janata Party\u2019.<\/p>\n Asked why the \u2018Students\u2019 Echo\u2019 rallies had failed to make the same impact as the event at Jantar Mantar, Tharoor said, \u201cRight. So we should ask ourselves what we failed to do.\u201d<\/p>\n He added, \u201cDid we fail to listen to the students? Did we fail to live up to the old adage of keeping our finger on the pulse of the people? Have we lost touch with Generation Z? We must seriously consider this.\u201d<\/p>\n August 8: Tharoor says his remarks were interpreted as an attack on the party<\/strong><\/span> As the controversy escalated, Tharoor wrote on X on Saturday that the media was portraying his remarks as an \u201cattack on his own party or its leadership\u201d.<\/p>\n He clarified that his main point was that political parties should open their doors and create opportunities for the next generation to participate in politics and help shape its future.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KC Venugopal has responded to Shashi Tharoor’s comments on Rahul Gandhi. (File photo) Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal on Sunday urged party leaders to refrain from making statements that could please the BJP. He was responding to senior leader Shashi Tharoor\u2019s remarks about Rahul Gandhi. According to media reports, Tharoor said at an event on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[26545,94,20263,26544,26546,22607,22107,26047],"class_list":["post-31715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nation","tag-alappuzha","tag-bjp","tag-congress-party","tag-kc-venugopal","tag-kerala-news","tag-political-controversy","tag-rahul-gandhi","tag-shashi-tharoor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/images.bhaskarassets.com\/web2images\/1884\/2026\/08\/09\/quote-image-51_1786275931.png\")
<\/picture><\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/images.bhaskarassets.com\/web2images\/1884\/2026\/08\/09\/screenshot2026-08-091640311786274774001_1786275309.png\")
<\/picture><\/div>\n