Swachh Bharat: Tharoor responds positively to Modi's call

Thiruvananthapuram: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's invitation to join the ambitious Swachh Bharat campaign but wanted it to be a sustained programme instead of being "tokenism".

After keeping silent all day even after other invitees like Sachin Tendulkar and Priyanka Chopra accepted the PM's challenge, the former Union Minister tweeted late last night that he was honoured to accept the invitation.

"Honoured to accept the invitation of PM @narendramodi to join Clean India campaign. Just landed in Bucharest &heard d news. Action on return," he tweeted.

The second term Lok Sabha member from Thiruvananthapuram said he was on a flight to Romania when the announcement came and informed the Prime Minister's office about his trip.

"Informed @PMOIndia (that) I was on a flight to Romania to attend&address #BucharestForum when his announcement came. Back Sunday. Clean India is4all."

Tharoor, who praised Modi a couple of occasions before, however, said he was not a fan of tokenism and the challenge would be to sustain it beyond a week of photo ops.

"I am not a fan of tokenism. CleanIndia is a great campaign but challenge will be2sustain it beyond a week of photo ops. Mindsets must change," he tweeted.

Modi had asked nine persons, including Tharoor yesterday to join the Swachh Bharat campaign.

While the inclusion of Tharoor among the persons mentioned by Modi came as a surprise to many, the Congress party had downplayed it.