Shashi Tharoor an 'important' party leader, says Congress

New Delhi: Shashi Tharoor is an "important" leader of the party but the matter of his removal is a "closed chapter", Congress said today, a day after sacking him as party spokesperson.

"Tharoor is an important leader. He is Chairman of the Standing Committee on External Affairs. I do not think it is proper to rake up the matter, when he himself had accepted the decision. The matter is a closed chapter," party spokesperson Ajoy Kumar told reporters.

Acting tough, Congress had yesterday removed Tharoor as party spokesperson for praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, capping a controversial nine-month tenure of the Kerala MP as party's media pointsman.

Tharoor had accepted the decision as a "loyal worker of Congress" but felt that he did not get a chance to put his views across, saying he would have welcomed an opportunity to respond to the complaint by the state unit against him.

The party spokesperson, however, downplayed questions about Tharoor's remarks and insisted that the Kerala leader has accepted the party's decision.

Tharoor was removed from the post of party spokespersons after an inquiry by the AICC's disciplinary action committee into the complaint of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, which had had held that Tharoor's adulatory statements about Modi had hurt Congress workers in Kerala.

"Congress President Sonia Gandhi has accepted the recommendation of the AICC disciplinary committee to remove Tharoor from the list of spokespersons of the AICC with immediate effect.

"The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee had submitted a complaint in this regard to the disciplinary committee," party general secretary organisation Janardan Dwivedi had said in a press release.

After the party action, Tharoor posted his statement on Twitter and Facebook saying it is the "prerogative" of the party to "alter" the responsibilities given to him.