THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Suggesting that fulfilling his political ambitions will not be a smooth ride for Shashi Tharoor, the Congress high command has admonished him for hinting that he is interested in contesting assembly polls. Tharoor, however, remained unfazed.
“If he had any such desire, he should have shared it with the party high command first,” Congress national general secretary in-charge of Kerala Tariq Anwar told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.
Tharoor said later that everyone has the freedom to speak. “I am not saying now whether I will contest to the assembly or not,” he told reporters in Thrissur.
Tariq’s reprimand comes at a time when Tharoor is making waves eliciting support from religious and community leaders across Kerala. Tharoor is likely to take a decision on his future after the Congress plenary session at Raipur from February 24 to 26, a source close to him said.
‘A’ faction’s plan to back Tharoor
A senior Congress MP, who is close to Rahul Gandhi, told TNIE that it’s almost certain that Tharoor will not be accommodated at the national level. “Though he shares a good rapport with Soniaji, it’s not going to help him at the national level. So Tharoor is trying to shift to Kerala. But that doesn’t mean that the state Congress will welcome him with open hands,” he said.
Tharoor has the implicit support of senior Congress leader Oommen Chandy and his camp, it is learnt.
The ploy of the ‘A’ group is to support Tharoor so as to end the dominance of national general secretary K C Venugopal.
Tharoor will begin the next round of his Malabar tour on Thursday in Kozhikode. He is slated to meet Samastha, Sunni and Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen leaders.