Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Shashi Tharoor, MP, seemingly struck a discordant note within the party by reportedly emphasising the “absence of a leader in Kerala’s Congress.“
Mr. Tharoor’s “averment” in a newspaper interview published from New Delhi on Sunday appeared to ruffle feathers in the Congress leadership in Kerala.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran told reporters in Thrissur that Mr. Tharoor had crossed a line. Mr. Tharoor had yet to deny the statement, which stirred controversy less than a week after he earned Congress’s ire for praising the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s success in the start-up sector and the ease of doing business in the State.
The controversy culminated in a private meeting with Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi. Subsequently, Congress leaders toned down their criticism of Mr. Tharoor’s alleged attempt to give the LDF a publicity advantage ahead of the local body polls.
Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala hinted that Mr. Tharoor’s interview was likely politically superfluous as it was “given before the CWC member met with Mr. Gandhi”.
Leadership race
Arguably, Mr. Tharoor also appeared to advocate for his candidacy as the party’s leader ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls. In the interview, he claimed that opinion polls from independent agencies indicated he was “ahead of others in leadership stakes in (the Congress) in Kerala.”
According to the newspaper, Mr. Tharoor said non-partisan political support had catalysed his four consecutive wins from the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency. Congress should expand its base among non-Congress voters like he did. “That is what we want in 2026,” he said.
Mr. Tharoor also seemed to fire a shot across the Congress leadership’s bows by remarking that he was “available for the party” but had other “options”, including speaking tours and books, if Congress did not require his services.
Expanding base
Mr. Tharoor also seemed to cast a pall of despondency over the State Congress’s leadership aspirations of wresting power from the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the 2026 Assembly polls by warning that the party would sit in the Opposition for a third consecutive time if it did not expand its base and gain non-partisan support, including from sections traditionally opposed to the United Democratic Front (UDF).
Published – February 23, 2025 08:10 pm IST