There is now a tussle between senior Congress leader and former minister Shashi Tharoor and Kerala Congress. Shashi Tharoor has now accused Kerala Congress of not inviting him for the campaigning in recent by-election. Tharoor says that he does not go where he is not invited. He also admitted that he has differences with many leaders of the party leadership and everyone knows this publicly. That is why he was not invited for election campaigning. By-elections have recently been held on the Nilambur assembly seat in Kerala.
Party rejects allegations
On Tharoor's allegations, Kerala Congress chief Sunny Joseph said that Tharoor's allegations are baseless. Kerala Congress had made him a star campaigner. For this, a list was released by the party. This list was also sent to the Election Commission on behalf of the party.
According to Sunny Joseph, Kerala Congress had included Shashi Tharoor as the party's star campaigner in the Nilambur assembly by-election. However, Tharoor did not go there to campaign. The Congress chief said that he does not know where Tharoor was, whether he was abroad, in Delhi or somewhere else, but he was called by the party for the elections.
In fact, the differences between Shashi Tharoor and some Congress leaders became public when Tharoor was on a foreign trip with a delegation of MPs. This delegation of MPs was going to different countries and presenting India's side about Operation Sindoor. The delegation was going around the world and exposing Pakistan's evil intentions.
During this, some of Shashi Tharoor's statements were criticized by Congress leaders. Some even called Tharoor a traitor and advised Prime Minister Modi to make him the super spokesperson of BJP. However, after that the party high command advised the leaders to remain silent.
Congress had objected to Tharoor's name
Actually, when the delegation of MPs was being sent to different countries by the central government, the central government had also asked for names from Congress. Shashi Tharoor's name was not among the four MPs named by the Congress party. The central government rejected all the four names of Congress and included Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tiwari, Salman Khurshid and Amar Singh in the delegation. Even on the foreign tour, the most talked about group was the one led by Shashi Tharoor. During that time, some Congress leaders had made statements about Tharoor.
Now after these latest developments it remains to be seen if the rift between Shashi Tharoor and Kerala Congress widens?
Prakash Kumar Pandey