Why Shashi Tharoor will skip key Congress meeting on Kerala polls
A party functionary told The Federal that Tharoor is unhappy with the party over the “ill treatment” given to him during Leader of Opposition Rahul’s recent Kochi visit, where he had participated in the ‘Maha Panchayat’ to felicitate local body election winners
Ahead of a meeting to discuss its poll preparedness for Kerala, cracks have appeared in the Congress with senior party leader and MP from the poll-bound state, Shashi Tharoor, deciding to skip the key meet over being unhappy with Rahul Gandhi.
Also Read: Gambhir responds to Tharoor: ‘Amused at being pitted against my own’
A party functionary told The Federal that Tharoor is unhappy with the party over the “ill treatment” given to him during Leader of Opposition Rahul’s recent Kochi visit, where he had participated in the ‘Maha Panchayat’ to felicitate local body election winners.
Tharoor’s prior commitment to KLF
However, Tharoor is giving the party meeting a miss as he had committed to attend the ongoing Kerala Literature Festival (KLF) in Kozhikode.
Tharoor's office told The Federal, "He is in Calicut (Kozhikode) for the Kerala Literature Festival, Asia’s Biggest Literary Festival. He is speaking on his latest book on Sree Narayana Guru. He had informed the party that he won’t make it."
The Congress’ top brass, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge are scheduled to hold a meeting of the Kerala unit on Friday afternoon (January 23) to discuss preparations for the Assembly polls scheduled later this year.
Recently, a video went viral showing Rahul ignoring Thiruvananthapuram MP Tharoor. It is learnt from the party insiders that it has made Tharoor upset, and he has decided to skip the meeting today.
Also Read: Shashi Tharoor praises PM Modi’s speech on Indian democracy
At the Kochi event, Rahul also hadn’t mentioned Tharoor by name while acknowledging others, which has not gone down well with the four-time MP, a party insider said.
Tharoor’s praise of Modi govt
At the Congress leaders' conclave in Wayanad recently, reports had emerged that Kerala leaders have come together to fight elections unitedly. Senior leaders also had a discussion with Tharoor at the Wayanad conclave. As per the party insiders, Tharoor had made it clear that he was not interested in fighting Assembly elections, though he has been nurturing the ambition of being named the Chief Ministerial candidate.
Of late, Tharoor has been at loggerheads with the Congress leadership for some time, and his comments and stands on various issues have irked the party.
Last year, the relationship further dipped as Tharoor defended the Modi government over the Pahalgam terror strike and Operation Sindoor, defying the party line.
Questioning ‘dynasty politics’
He had also put the Congress on the firing line by questioning "dynasty politics" besides defending the legacy of BJP veteran LK Advani, saying it is "unfair" to reduce his "long years of service to one episode" of leading the contentious Rath Yatra while drawing parallels to former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.
He had also skipped a meeting called by the party leadership to review the contentious Special Intensive Revision(SIR) exercise in 12 states, a day after attending a lecture delivered by PM Narendra Modi, despite “cold and catarrh”.
The tensions heightened between Tharoor and the Congress on Thursday when he posted a selfie with BJP MP and Indian cricket team’s head coach Gautam Gambhir, when the former hurled praise for the latter, saying, “the second hardest job in India after Prime Minister Narendra Modi”. Tharoor’s comment was quickly taken up by the BJP, which leveraged it to target and mock the grand old party.
