THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: From a point of no return, there seems to be a gradual thaw in relations between the Congress leadership and working committee member Shashi Tharoor.
In an “inclusive” approach, state Congress president Sunny Joseph personally invited the Thiruvananthapuram MP to an event being organised by the state Congress in connection with the second death anniversary of former chief minister Oommen Chandy. The event to be held in Kottayam on Friday will be inaugurated by Rahul Gandhi. However, since Tharoor is yet to return to the country from his visit to Athens, he has informed the leadership about his inconvenience.
Though Tharoor had a strained relation with the Congress central leadership over several issues the latest being his criticism of former prime minister Indira Gandhi in an article published as part of the 50th anniversary of declaration of Emergency the AICC recently reached out to the MP, inviting him to the Congress parliamentary party meeting held in connection with the commencement of the next parliament session.
Though Tharoor could not attend the meeting due to his visit abroad, the MP seems to be happy with the latest developments. “The party has always taken a position of inclusiveness,” an AICC leader told TNIE on condition of anonymity. “We were of the feeling that Tharoor will stand by the party,” he said. After the event in Kottayam, Rahul Gandhi will travel to Thiruvananthapuram on Friday to visit veteran leader A K Antony. However, Tharoor, who is set to reach the country on the day, will not be able to reach the state capital by that time.
‘Change in approach of new KPCC leadership’
However, Tharoor is likely to seek a one-on-one meeting with Rahul in New Delhi on the sidelines of the parliamentary session starting on July 21. It was in February that the two leaders last met, after Tharoor’s praise of the LDF government’s startup initiatives triggered a controversy.
“There is change in the approach of the new KPCC leadership and the AICC alike,” a leader close to Tharoor told TNIE. “Tharoor has no intention of leaving Congress. And there is no chance of regrouping of the old G 23 group or him becoming a part of it,” he said. According to sources, Tharoor might also discuss his views on some political, organisational and ideological issues with Rahul, if all goes smoothly. Tharoor and a section of leaders are of the view that the number of working committee members should be limited and the leadership should convene the CWC instead of an extended working committee to discuss important issues.
Tharoor is also sceptical about Rahul’s new election slogan “Jitni abadi utna haq’ (the rights of any group are proportionate to its population share) in favour of caste census, and he is likely to raise the issue with Rahul when they meet. “Though it is meant to divide Hindu votes among sub-castes to give a setback to the BJP, we think that Congress will not be a beneficiary. There are too many OBC parties and a PM from the OBC section to claim the result of it,” a leader close to Tharoor told TNIE.
Tharoor has apprehension that this slogan will be used by the BJP for delimitation, resulting in the huge increase of Parliament seats for north Indian states thus creating an imbalance.
“There is also an issue of Congress deviating from the central-right position to far-left stance on development and liberalisation,” the leader said.
“If we cannot take into confidence the trading-business community and middle class, how will the party garner votes? We hope these issues will be discussed in the meeting,” he said.