NEW DELHI: Shashi Tharoor is no pushover in politics. And the Congress knows that. In October 2022, the former UN dilpomat-turned politician surprised many in the Congress when he announced to contest elections for the post of Congress president against Mallikarjun Kharge – who was the “nominee” of the Gandhis. Tharoor fought the elections against all odds with little support from any one in the party and managed to get 1,072 votes against Kharge’s 7,897.
Tharoor, who then already had the rebel tag around him as a member of G-23 (group of Congress leaders who had written a letter to Sonia Gandhi seeking reforms in the party), braved the risk of being labeled an open dissident to put forth his views on reviving the Congress – which had been on a constant decline since its shocking defeat in 2014. He batted for decentralising authority and empowering the grassroots office-bearers of the party.
The former UN diplomat-turned-politician, who has won four consecutive Lok Sabha elections from Thiruvananthapuram, has once again challenged the Congress leadership with his praise for party’s political rivals – both at the national and the state level.
The Congress MP, who has never been afraid to speak his mind, was once again under fire for his comments praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States and his thumbs up to entrepreneurial growth in Kerala under the LDF government.
As expected, the Congress pushback was strong and immediate. But Tharoor, in keeping with his combative style, instead of taking a step back took digs at the party leadership with a cryptic social media which said “it is a folly to be wise.” The message was loud and clear – the Thiruvananthapuram MP was once again ready to fight the battle within the party.
Tharoor, who was reportedly unhappy over being sidelined in the party – both at the national and the state level, had a one-to-one closed-door meeting with Rahul Gandhi and later claimed that the conversation was “very good” though he did not divulge any details.
The Kerala Congress leader however remained defiant about his article praising the Left Front government and said he was happy that it had ‘done some good’ as it had opened a scope for discussion on the issue.
According to reports, Tharoor in a yet to be telecast podcast has said that he is ready to explore other options if the Congress did not need his services.
What may worry the Congress that this time around there are some voices of support for the embattled leader. Echoing the sentiments of Tharoor, another senior party leader Rashid Alvi, said there was a need to bring senior and ground-connected politicians into Congress mainstream.
“Congress party has many senior, seasoned, and ground-connected politicians. We should bring them into the mainstream of the party. This will make Congress stronger. If we do not bring these experienced individuals into the mainstream, it will harm the party,” Alvi said.
This is not the first time that Alvi has given a message to the party leadership. Recently when Congress contested the Delhi elections with full vengeance against Arvind Kejriwal and played a key role in AAP’s defeat, Alvi had then spoken against the leadership decision to divide votes and help the BJP in process.
And while Alvi was diplomatic in his attack, Sanjay Jha, former Congress spokesperson, who was pushed out of the party following airing his differences, was more direct in his attack. Sanjay Jha wrote an open post on X addressed to Rahul Gandhi explaining why he needed to bell the cat.
“I am writing to you publicly here because no one within the Congress is probably going to tell you this. So as usual, let me bell the cat. Leadership ( corporate or political or any other) is about having difficult conversations. It is about trouble-shooting. It is not about living in denial; problems have to be addressed, they cannot be wished away,” he wrote.
Advising Rahul Gandhi to set the house in order, Sanjay Jha said “We need to the hit the nail on the head going forward, but right now, we seem to be hitting our head on the nail.”
Clearly, the Congress leadership in general and Rahul Gandhi in particular need to ensure that the party does not lose another popular leader because of the differences within.