On the marketing campaign tour for his presidential election bid, Shashi Tharoor Tuesday reached house state Kerala, the place the climb is as uphill for the 66-year-old.
The state unit is split on his candidature, with the larger camp of primarily senior get together leaders overtly popping out in help of Mallikarjun Kharge, and a bit of the kids batting for Tharoor, the MP from Thiruvananthapuram. Tharoor has stated he wasn’t stunned by this: “I don’t anticipate help from huge leaders within the get together. A majority of my supporters are younger leaders and get together employees.”
Congress sources stated that senior leaders, in any other case well-known for selling personal group pursuits in Kerala, have rallied round Kharge on the final assumption that the veteran Karnataka chief is the official candidate of the get together, notably the Gandhi household. Chopping throughout intra-party variations, Kerala leaders put on their help for the household on their sleeves.
This was seen through the lately concluded Kerala leg of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, with senior leaders burying their variations to maintain consistent with Rahul.
Sources stated that one other issue weighing in favour of Kharge for the Kerala management is Okay C Venugopal, who as AICC common secretary (organisational issues) is among the many most influential leaders within the Congress proper now and is near Rahul. Emergence of one other chief from Kerala corresponding to Tharoor might threaten Venugopal’s place.
Moreover, the current Kerala management, of Okay Sudhakaran and V D Satheesan, owe a lot to Venugopal for his or her rise within the wake of the 2021 Meeting election lack of the get together within the state.
Tharoor himself doesn’t have many admirers among the many Kerala Congress, who noticed him as an outsider handed the celebrated Lok Sabha seat in 2009. The rationale the get together nonetheless stood behind him was the strict path from the nationwide management to make sure the victory of the UN diplomat-turned politician.
It’s a great distance from 2009 although, and Tharoor has developed his personal fan base and standing since, courtesy largely his erudition and social media presence. That is notably interesting for the youthful technology, looking for leaders with a distinction, and Tharoor has tapped into this sentiment. In his presidential contest bid, he’s projecting himself because the candidate for change.
In the course of the Meeting elections of 2021, Tharoor, in reality, was a distinguished Congress campaigner. His engagements with voters by means of debates had been an enormous hit throughout the state, although Congress had misplaced the elections.
So if Kharge has in his nook KPCC president Okay Sudhakaran, Chief of Opposition V D Satheesan, former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and former Chief of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, Tharoor’s nook has some attention-grabbing names too: Congress MP Hibi Eden, legislators Mathew Kuzhalnadan and Shafi Parambil, and Youth Congress state vice-president Okay S Sabarinadhan, additionally an ex-MLA.
A 3-term Congress MP from Kerala, M Okay Raghavan, who was one of many proposers for Tharoor’s nomination and is backing his candidature, stated: “Tharoor on the helm of the Congress would profit the Congress in addition to the Opposition (at giant) within the current Indian situation. If a Keralite turns into Congress president, it will likely be a matter of pleasure for me.”
Tharoor’s supporters level out that it could be the primary time an individual from Kerala would turn into Congress president in 125 years. It was again in 1897 that Kerala-born Chettur Sankaran Nair held the submit.
Whereas not arguing with this, Satheesan and others have been pointing to Kharge’s credentials as a Dalit chief. Satheesan says it’s a matter of pleasure that an individual from a backward group would turn into Congress president. “He’s an skilled, seasoned chief. The Congress doesn’t consider in packing off senior leaders, their expertise must also be used to assist the get together develop,” Satheesan says, whereas including that Tharoor was welcome to contest and it could not divide the Kerala unit in any approach.
Congress sources admit Satheesan’s strident stand was a shock as he leads the younger brigade within the get together and has been identified to argue for a change of guard to herald younger faces. All of the younger leaders backing Tharoor are identified to be near Satheesan.
Sudhakaran has additionally talked of Kharge’s Dalit background, and his lengthy stint in parliamentary politics in addition to organisational issues, saying this made him essentially the most succesful particular person to guide the Congress. “He’s a pacesetter who can interact with all generations of get together employees. He has by no means compromised with the RSS and Sangh Parivar. Such a pacesetter can establish the strengths and weaknesses of the get together,” he stated in an announcement.
Tharoor, who once more made it clear Tuesday that he wouldn’t be withdrawing from the competition, stated Sudhakaran as an office-bearer within the get together mustn’t have made his stand open. “What Sudhakaran said is simply his private opinion. I’m ‘conscience’ votes,” he stated.
Tharoor additionally informed reporters Tuesday that some leaders had even approached Rahul to steer him to withdraw, and that the latter had turned them away. “He (Rahul) jogged my memory that he has been saying for the previous 10 years that there ought to be a contest for the get together chief’s submit. He additionally stated that some individuals requested him to request me to withdraw my candidature. He informed me he is not going to accomplish that. He stated I mustn’t withdraw and that I ought to contest,” Tharoor stated.
Having arrived in Kerala after a tour of Nagpur and Wardha in Maharashtra and Hyderabad, Tharoor stated employees in every single place had urged him to not again away. “Their confidence in me is what offers me the energy to maneuver ahead,” he stated.
Amongst these Tharoor met in Hyderabad was former India cricketer and dealing president of the Telangana PCC, Mohd Azharuddin. After the assembly, Tharoor tweeted a photograph with Azharuddin, saying: “Delighted to obtain the endorsement of former MP & Indian cricket legend @azharflicks… Match as ever & raring to go, Azhar joins me in wanting change & reform in our get together in order to higher equip us to tackle the BJP.”
Tharoor additionally tweeted a photograph with former Union minister M Pallam Raju in Hyderabad, saying, “We each help a stronger @incIndia!”
Others who’ve thrown their weight behind Tharoor embrace his proposers for the nomination, MPs Karti Chidambaram, Pradyut Bordoloi, Raghavan, Mohammad Jawed, get together veteran Mohsina Kidwai, and former MP and G-23 chief Sandeep Dikshit. Senior chief and former Union minister Saifuddin Soz and his son Salman are additionally backing Tharoor.