THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has denied MP Shashi Tharoor and former Union minister K V Thomas permission to address a seminar to be held as part of the CPM party congress in Kannur next month. She reportedly asked Tharoor to obey the state unit’s direction. State Congress president K Sudhakaran had earlier asked the party leaders not to attend the event.
In a message issued on Monday evening, Tharoor said he respected Sonia’s views on the matter and conveyed to the organisers his inability to participate. While K V Thomas said he respected the party’s decision, Tharoor did not hide his displeasure over Sudhakaran’s open statements.
“I regret that some preferred the unseemly public airing of internal differences, thereby creating a needless controversy in a matter in which AICC’s view was binding. I hope wisdom will prevail in future,” Tharoor said.
Denial of chance: Tharoor unhappy
Though he has accepted Sonia’s direction, Tharoor said certain matters need to be addressed separately. They were the broader questions about the Congress party’s relations with the CPM at the national level, centre-state relations and the manner in which invitations from other political parties are to be handled.
Tharoor was invited by the CPM to speak on centre-state relations. Another former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar too had received an invitation. Sudhakaran had banned all Kerala leaders from attending the seminar in view of the party’s opposition to the LDF government’s SilverLine project. He had said Tharoor could attend the event if he got permission from Sonia.