Congress versus Congress has sprung up in Kerala again with the party’s state chief putting out a stern, and very public, warning for his own MP, Shashi Tharoor.

Kerala leaders are upset that Shashi Tharoor has not signed the opposition petition against the Left-led government’s K-Rail (Kerala high-speed rail) project. Sources said the Congress MP had said he needed more time to study it.

“Shashi Tharoor is a single man in the party. Every person is entitled to their opinion. If he agrees to the party line, he will continue in the party. If not agreeing to the party line, he will not be in the party. That’s all it is,” Congress’s Kerala unit chief, K Sudhakaran, said bitterly.

“Whether it is Shashi Tharoor or K Sudhakaran, no one has given the right to party MPs to oppose party decisions. One Shashi Tharoor isn’t Congress,” he told reporters.

Earlier this month, Mr Tharoor had defended his decision not to put his name on the petition just yet.

“There is no scope for any misunderstanding. I have not given any support to this project. When such a big issue comes, we have a responsibility to discuss this in detail. It’s not about opposing; it’s about asking the important questions,” the Congress MP had told reporters at parliament on December 15.

The K-Rail Silverline project aims at setting up a high-speed rail corridor that will connect one end of Kerala to the other and vastly cut travel time. The 532-km corridor is likely to cost ₹ 63,941 crore.

The Congress and activists have objected to the project saying it will cause massive damage to the ecology and is overpriced. Left Front ally CP has also demanded that the detailed project report be made public.