Congress leaders huddle ahead of Kerala polls, sans Shashi Tharoor

New Delhi: Congress top leadership on Friday instructed its Kerala leaders to get into poll mode projecting a "united face" under a "collective leadership" at a meeting that saw senior leader Shashi Tharoor skipping the deliberations, apparently upset over Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi ignoring him at a party function recently.

The meeting of senior leaders from Kerala was called by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge in which state president Sunny Joseph, Legislature party leader VD Satheesan, Congress Working Committee members Ramesh Chennithala and Tharoor among others were invited to the meeting. Rahul and General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal also attended the meeting.

At the meeting, sources said, the Kerala leaders were told that they needed to fight the polls unitedly under a collective leadership at a time ground reports clearly suggest that the party-led United Democratic Front (UDF) could win the elections. Rahul, sources said, made it clear that the Chief Ministerial face will be decided only after elections.

Sources said the Kerala leadership has been given a "free hand" in candidate selection, even as they have been asked to conclude negotiations with allies at the earliest. Kharge told the leaders not to waste the opportunity to win the elections through inner-party conflicts, sources said.

Kharge posted on 'X' after the meeting, "3.6 crore people of Kerala are yearning for change. The Congress…along with our partners in the UDF are determined to ensure progressive, development-oriented, welfare based governance in the state." Venugopal told reporters that they were fighting unitedly and the UDF is going to win over 100 seats in Kerala.

However, Tharoor's absence ignited fresh trouble for the Congress in Kerala even as Venugopal told the meeting at the outset, sources said, that the Thiruvananthapuram MP had informed him in advance about his unavailability, as his two books are being released at a literature festival. Tharoor did not issue any clarification about his absence in the meeting and reports about his unhappiness.

While leaders insisted that Tharoor had prior engagements and had informed his unavailability for the meeting, sources said his absence had to do more with Rahul not acknowledging him at the party's 'Maha Panchayath' programme held in Kochi on January 19 to felicitate local body poll winners. Rahul also did not mention Tharoor by name while acknowledging others, which has not gone down well with him.

Even as he skipped the meeting, the four-time MP was slated to attend the Kerala Literature Festival in Kozhikode on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, he has a scheduled programme in which renowned writer Salman Rushdie will be in conversation with him and Manasi Subramaniam. On Saturday, he will have two sessions.

At a party leaders' conclave in Wayanad recently, reports had emerged that Kerala leaders have come together to fight elections unitedly. Senior leaders also had a discussion with Tharoor at the Wayanad conclave. He had made it clear that he was not interested in fighting Assembly elections, though he has been nurturing the ambition of being named the Chief Ministerial candidate.

Tharoor has been at loggerheads with the Congress leadership for sometime and his comments and stands on various issues had irked the party. Last May, the relationship further soared as he defended the Modi government over the Pahalgam terror strike and Operation Sindoor, defying the party line.

He had also put the Congress on the firing line by questioning 'dynasty politics' besides defending the legacy of BJP veteran LK Advani, saying it is "unfair" to reduce his "long years of service to one episode" of leading the contentious 'Rath Yatra' while drawing parallel to Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.

He had also skipped a meeting called by the party leadership to review the contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in 12 states, a day after attending a lecture delivered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi “despite battling a bad cold and cough”.