THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress’ plenary session to be held in Raipur from February 24 to 26 is going to be a crucial turning point for Shashi Tharoor. Political circles are keenly watching whether the 66-year-old MP will be nominated to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) or will he have to prove his mettle by contesting.
Of the 23 seats in CWC, 12 will be elected while the rest will be nominated by the AICC president. Tharoor is happy as he has already got support from Oommen Chandy’s ‘A’ group. However, it’s learnt that UDF convener M M Hassan and senior leader K C Joseph do not endorse Chandy’s choice.
Last week, three Congress MPs from Kerala, K Muraleedharan, Benny Behanan and M K Raghavan, met AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge seeking support for Tharoor. “We apprised Kharge of Tharoor’s impact among youths in the state. It is now up to the central Congress leadership to decide on inducting him into the CWC. Our objective in endorsing Tharoor is that we need to accept the reality about how the youth and apolitical sections see him,” one of the MPs told TNIE.
Meanwhile, the three-term Thiruvananthapuram MP was guarded in his reply when TNIE asked him about the possibility of him contesting in the CWC elections. “It’s important for the entire party. It marks an inflection point after the party presidential election and the Bharat Jodo Yatra and is expected to set Congress’ future direction heading towards the elections,” said Tharoor.