Trouble seems to be brewing within the Congress party, as senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor reportedly expressed dissatisfaction over his role in the party. As per reports, the Thiruvananthapuram MP met Rahul Gandhi in Delhi a couple of days ago to express discontent over being sidelined in the party and not being given opportunities to participate in major debates inside the Parliament. However, Tharoor was left disgruntled after Gandhi failed to address his concerns.
Shashi Tharoor dissatisfied over removal from AIPC
According to a report in Times of India, Shashi Tharoor told Rahul Gandhi during their meeting that he was capable of representing Congress’ stance inside the Parliament. Tharoor was seeking direction from the party leadership on whether he should focus on state politics or if the party wanted to give him some other responsibility. Media reports are also saying that Tharoor wanted to know if the All India Congress Committee (AICC) planned to propose his name as the party’s Chief Ministerial candidate in Kerala. Tharoor’s dissatisfaction also arises from his removal from the charge of the All India Professional Congress (AIPC), a body which he had established.
Congress unhappy with Tharoor’s praise of PM Modi
The Congress leadership is reportedly disappointed with Tharoor since he praised Prime Minister Modi’s US visit deviating from the party’s official stance. “I think that’s a very good outcome because otherwise, the fear was that there might be some hasty decisions made in Washington which would have affected our exports. This way, there is time to discuss and negotiate,” Tharoor said regarding PM Modi’s meeting with Trump.
Clarifying his position, Tharoor later said he could not always speak in terms of party interest. “We can’t always speak only in terms of party interest. I am not a party spokesperson, I am an MP elected by the people of Thiruvananthapuram and on that basis, I speak as an important stakeholder in Indian democracy,” said Tharoor.
In addition to that, Tharoor wrote an article praising the CPI(M) government in the state for transforming the state into ”a model of economic innovation and sustainable growth”. The article was used by the CPI(M) as a certificate of good work of the government. This did not go down well with the Congress as the party is trying to fight the state government ahead of local body elections to take place later this year. However, Tharoor stood his ground and said that his article was based on facts and data and that he was ready to change his stand if he was shown contrary facts or data.
