Shashi Tharoor had always been an outsider in the Congress party. More so, in the Kerala unit of the party. And this has never been so evident than right now.
It all started with a tweet from the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, where he endorsed the statements made by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Ramesh had said that demonising the prime minister was wrong and he should be praised for the right things he do.
“As you know, I have argued for six years now that @narendramodi should be praised whenever he says or does the right thing, which would add credibility to our criticisms whenever he errs. I welcome others in Oppn coming around to a view for which I was excoriated at the time!” Tharoor had tweeted on Sunday.
But all hell broke loose in the Kerala unit of the Congress with senior leaders, including opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, baying for his blood. K. Muraleedharan, MP from Vadakara, even said that Tharoor is making all these statements supporting Modi just to become a minister in the cabinet. He even poked fun at him saying its time to officially join the BJP.
But Tharoor retorted by saying that he doesn’t have to take lessons from anyone in the Congress in Kerala.
This seems to have angered many in KPCC as it gave an impression that he was above the party. KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran, who was silent on the subject initially, came out on Tuesday and said he would seek explanation from Tharoor.
Tharoor did try to mend the fences by saying that his statement did not mean absolute support for Modi and had pointed out that there are cases pending against him for criticising the prime minister and his party. But the efforts seemed not to have worked.
“Many have approached me with complaints against Tharoor saying that his statement has affected the morale of the party cadre. He will have to explain,” said the KPCC president.
But those close to Tharoor, who is currently abroad, dismisses the reactions of the Congress leaders in Kerala as “pure jealousy”.
“These leaders have never ever supported Tharoor. If he has won from Thiruvananthapuram constituency, it was purely on the basis of his credentials and the affection of the people,” said a Congress leader close to him.
According to him, the state unit is yet to come to terms with the fact that Tharoor won three times in a row despite their lack of support. “So they are just using the opportunity to get back at him,” said the leader.
He recalled the instance during the last Lok Sabha election campaign where the AICC leaders had to rush to Thiruvananthapuram to stop the inaction on the part of the senior Congress leaders in the state.
Tharoor had won from the constituency with a margin of nearly a lakh votes.
The BJP state unit, on the other hand, is quite happy with the developments. BJP's only MLA in the state, O. Rajagopal has openly welcomed Tharoor into the party fold. “We will support Tharoor if needed,” he said.
