Tharoor continues salvo against Congress Kerala leadership

Tharoor said that he had demanded the mayor's resignation as soon as the nepotism allegations came up earlier this month

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor continued his salvo against the party-state leadership on Thursday.

Tharoor, who took part in an ongoing protest by Congress against Thiruvananthapuram mayor Arya Rajendran, said that he had demanded the mayor's resignation as soon as the nepotism allegations came up earlier this month. "But some party leaders seemed to have forgotten it," he said.

Tharoor's statement was considered to be a reply to Opposition leader V D Satheesan of the Congress. While reacting about Tharoor's north Kerala tour recently, in an obvious attack on the Thiruvananthapuram MP, Satheesan alleged that some leaders were not participating in agitations going on at their places.

While most Congress state leaders maintained silence on Tharoor's alleged bids to emerge as a state leader, and many even backed him, the row over his Malabar tour seems to have become a split between Tharoor and Satheesan.

Satheesan has been gaining the upper hand in the party as the Congress performed well in the bypolls to an Assembly seat and many local body seats that took place after Satheesan was made the Opposition leader last year.

Even as Tharoor and Satheesan on Thursday travelled on the same flight from Kannur to Thiruvananthapuram and attended an event in the state capital, they had no conversations.

There are reports that AICC general secretary Tariq Anwar may soon come down to Kerala to settle the issues.