Some Congress MPs wish to see Tharoor packed off to Delhi

Tharoor cozying up to bishops belonging to various denominations has not gone down well with most MPs, especially those belonging to the Christian communities.
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. (Photo | Shekhar Yadav, EPS)
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. (Photo | Shekhar Yadav, EPS)

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Close on the heels of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s controversial outreach programme, a section within the party’s state unit is -- rather uncharitably -- calling for his induction into the Congress Working Committee (CWC), so that he would focus his efforts more at the national level rather than being confined to Kerala. With the winter session of Parliament starting on Wednesday, UDF MPs are in New Delhi.

There is a clamour among some of them to induct Tharoor into the CWC. Apart from M K Raghavan, two other MPs -- K Muraleedharan and Hibi Eden -- had taken an open stand in favour of Tharoor during his controversial Malabar tour and subsequent visits in Central Travancore. The rest had stayed clear of supporting Tharoor.

On Wednesday, all eyes were on Tharoor, who was in a jovial mood after the Vizhinjam agitation was called off. A senior MP from the state felt there was a void in leadership due to the absence of A K Antony and Oommen Chandy, both of whom are inactive now, as well as the late K Karunakaran.

“Tharoor has identified this and is confident of filling that void with his global citizen image. The media and youth back him and it’s only a matter of time before they realize their folly. Tharoor is a globetrotter who finds it difficult to stay in one country. If Tharoor is inducted into the national leadership and made a CWC member, half of his problems will be over,” a senior MP told TNIE.

Tharoor cozying up to bishops belonging to various denominations has not gone down well with most MPs, especially those belonging to the Christian communities. Some MPs, including Dean Kuriakose, Anto Antony, Hibi Eden and Rajmohan Unnithan have strong resentment towards the manner in which the state leadership dealt with the Tharoor issue.

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