JOIN USTharoor a 'guest artist' in Congress, says KPCC working president
The resentment among Congress leaders in Kerala against the international diplomat turned politician Shashi Tharoor is once again coming to the fore as many leaders were targeting his international stature while attacking him for being part of the 23 who sent dissent letter against party high command Sonia Gandhi.
After Kerala PCC president Mullappally Ramachandran warned Tharoor against defying party discipline by engaging in public discourse on party issues, other senior leaders are also attacking Tharoor openly. Though another senior Congress leader from Kerala P J Kurian was also among the 23 members, party leaders in Kerala were only targeting Tharoor.
Lok Sabha MP Kodikunnil Suresh said on Friday that Tharoor lacked the maturity of a politician and he was just a guest artist in the party. "Let him he a global citizen, but after being in Congress he should work according to party norms. He entered Congress as a guest artist and he was continuing to be like that. He lacked the maturity of a politician and hence was not working by following the party norms," he said.
Another Congress MP from Kerala K Muraleedharan also gibed that he was just an ordinary citizen and hence he could not demanding action against a global citizen like Tharoor.
The Kerala PCC president had also flayed that the Tharoor, who is the MP of Thiruvananthapuram, was not seen in Thiruvanathapuram after Covid-19 and he was mostly in Delhi.
The fresh attack on Tharoor came close on the heels of Tharoor openly backing the centre's decision to lease out Thiruvananthapuram airport development and management to a private party, while the Congress in Kerala was strongly opposing it.
The friction between Tharoor and the Congress leaders in Kerala has been there for quite some time. Many Congress leaders in Kerala seemed to be quite concerned that Tharoor might emerge as a stronger national leader of the party owing to his international profile.
During the recent Lok Sabha election campaign also there were allegations that many Congress leaders were not giving enough support in the campaign. However, Tharoor managed to win for the third time in a row.
Meanwhile, a section of Congress leaders including young MLA K S Sabarinadhan have backed Tharoor. He said in a social media post that it was because Tharoor was a global citizen that he could make use of his contacts for initiating novel steps for Thiruvananthapuram during the time of Covid-19. He also said that it was through Tharoor that the society, especially the youngsters, was getting a clear view of many key issues.