In what could be an embarrassment for his party back in India, Congress leader Salman Khurshid hailed the Modi government's historic step of Article 370 abrogation which he claimed had brought "prosperity" in Jammu and Kashmir.

Khurshid, who is a part of one of the seven delegations sent abroad to brief on Operation Sindoor, said, "Kashmir had a major problem for a long time. Much of that was reflected in the thinking of the government in an article called 370 of the Constitution, which somehow gave an impression that it was separate from the rest of the country.

"But Article 370 was abrogated and it was finally put to an end because so much time has passed. Subsequently, there was an election in 65 percent participation in election."

"There's an elected government in Jammu and Kashmir today and therefore for people to want to undo everything that has happened, the prosperity that has come to Kashmir is very unfortunate and it will give a setback to anybody..," the 72-year-old added.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is heading a delegation to the America, earlier faced the ire of his own party for claiming the surgical strike after the Uri attack in 2016 was the first instance when the Army breached the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan.

The Congress leader said, "What has changed in recent years is that the terrorists have also realised they will have a price to pay, on that, let there be no doubt. When, for the first time, India breached the Line of Control between India and Pakistan to conduct a surgical strike on a terror base, a launch pad - the Uri strike in September 2015.

"That was already something we had not done before. Even during the Kargil War, we had not crossed the Line of Control; in Uri, we did, and then came the attack in Pulwama in January 2019. This time, we crossed not only the Line of Control but also the international border, and we struck the terrorist headquarters in Balakot. This time, we have gone beyond both of those."

"We have not only gone beyond the Line of Control and the international border. We have struck at the Punjabi heartland of Pakistan by hitting terror bases, training centres, terror headquarters in nine places."

The Congress, which had not recommended Tharoor's name to head any all-party delegations, has slammed its own leader and called him the "super spokesperson" of the country's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that is spearheaded by Prime Minister Modi.

Congress leader Udit Raj wrote on X, "My dear @ShashiTharoor. Alas ! I could prevail upon PM Modi to declare you as super spokesperson of BJP , even declaring as foreign minister before landing in India . How could you denigrate the golden history of Congress by saying that before PM Modi , India never crossed LOC and International border.

"In 1965 Indian Army entered Pakistan at multiple points, which completely surprised the Pakistanis in the Lahore sector. In 1971 , India tore Pakistan in two pieces and during UPA Govt several surgical strikes were unleashed but drum beating was not done to encash politically . How could you be so dishonest to the party which gave you so much?"

Shortly after Tharoor praised India's retaliatory strikes since 2016, his party colleague Pawan Khera tagged him in a video in which former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says that many surgical strikes were conducted during the UPA era.

While Khera just added a "CC" to refer to Tharoor, the message was clear that the Congress is not happy.