Shashi Tharoor vs Congress explained: Is all well between them?

India Today

Amid a row over his remarks praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government in Kerala, senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said he was available for the party, but warned he had "options" if it did not require his services.

Transcript

00:00Is everything fine between Congress and Shashi Tharoor?

00:02Why is Tharoor praising his opponents?

00:04Is Shashi Tharoor going to quit Congress?

00:06Is he going to BJP or CPM?

00:08That's what everyone interested in politics is asking today.

00:11But how did it all start?

00:12We'll tell you everything in today's episode.

00:14Hello, I'm Nishant Shekhar and you're watching Politico.

00:23So it so happened that Tharoor recently wrote an article

00:25praising the LDF government in Kerala.

00:27Now if you praise the government of the enemy party,

00:29your own party will definitely get upset.

00:31You're doing it wrong.

00:33The Congress people got angry.

00:34On top of that, Tharoor also praised

00:35Modiji's meeting with Donald Trump.

00:37Press statements by both the Prime Minister

00:39and by President Trump are very encouraging.

00:42In Congress, he praised Modiji.

00:44This is a crime.

00:45So what happened next?

00:46The senior leadership called Tharoor for a meeting.

00:48Tharoor met with Rahul Gandhi.

00:50And I don't know if he got scolded in the meeting

00:52because he said no comments.

00:54I have no comment to make at this time.

00:57Thank you very much.

00:58He must have got scolded.

00:59He didn't praise the government.

01:01Anyway, amid all this Indian Express,

01:02Tharoor's podcast came out in which he made tall claims.

01:05Tharoor said in the Kerala leadership battle,

01:07he was ahead of others.

01:08And claimed that those who were against Congress

01:10also voted for him in the general elections.

01:13But what raised many eyebrows when he said,

01:14if Congress doesn't need me, he has other options.

01:17Was this led to a speculation that

01:19Gulam Ravi Azad, Jyotiraditya Siddia, R.P.N. Singh

01:22and Captain Amrinder Singh

01:23will make Sashi Tharoor say bye-bye to Congress?

01:25Although Tharoor has dismissed all such speculations,

01:28but on February 22, he posted a cryptic tweet

01:30which stated,

01:31where ignorance is bliss,

01:32this folly to be wise.

01:34People got even more confused

01:35as to what he was trying to say.

01:37But if you follow Kerala politics,

01:38you can understand what Tharoor was trying to say.

01:41Kerala has elections next year

01:42and party is not taking him very seriously.

01:44So why not do some adventure?

01:46Recently, he was removed from the

01:48All India Professional Congress.

01:49On top of that, party high command

01:50is not clarifying their expectations from him.

01:52So what option is left?

01:53Either CPM or BJP.

01:55Let's speak to our reporter about

01:57options that Tharoor has.

01:58Shibi Mubal, can we say is all well

02:00between Congress and Sashi Tharoor?

02:02He's pushing to consider him also as

02:05one of the CM candidate for the next year's

02:08Kerala Assembly elections because

02:10you know, he clearly says that

02:12there's no leader for the Congress in Kerala

02:15though there are many faces for the party here in Kerala.

02:18He says, you know, there is

02:20there's already discussions going on

02:22that it might be a, you know, LDF 3.0.

02:25The left government might come back to power

02:26one more time, which means it will be

02:29a major setback for the Congress.

02:30So he tries to make use of those discussions

02:33saying that, you know,

02:35Congress might have leaders,

02:36Congress might have faces,

02:37but it's very important to have a face

02:40that can attract neutral voters also.

02:42That's why he takes up his case very seriously

02:44saying that in Tiruvanamalai,

02:46it's not just the Congress votes

02:47that he has been getting,

02:49he's managing to get neutral votes

02:51and also votes of those people

02:53have never voted for the Congress.

02:54That is personal aura or personal,

02:57you know, achievements that has impressed the people,

03:00that has been appealing to the people.

03:02So somebody like that should be placed.

03:04I have it in me.

03:05If you don't make use of it,

03:07I'll look for, I have other options.

03:08What are the possibilities of

03:10Tharoor switching over to CPM or the BJP?

03:14Definitely not.

03:15If it happens, it happens with the BJP only.

03:17If BJP manages to like rope in Shashi Tharoor,

03:21how beneficial it is going to be

03:23for the Saffron party in Kerala?

03:24In Kerala, what it will do is,

03:26it's the fact that it will attract

03:27a lot of neutral voters and also

03:30a lot of, you know, youngsters who are

03:32admirers of Shashi Tharoor,

03:34the author, the diplomat,

03:36everything else other than a politician,

03:39Shashi Tharoor, the politician.

03:40So that will definitely be a boost

03:42because one thing that they've been struggling here

03:44in Kerala is with, you know,

03:46they've not had a popular face.

03:47They've not had a very strong face in the state.

03:50So that problem of theirs will be solved

03:52to a major extent if he decides to join the BJP.

03:57You know, I think the difference

03:59will be among the neutral voters.

04:01The core party workers,

04:02the Congress and the left will not shift,

04:04but among the neutral voters.

04:06And also Tharoor, even when he's with the Congress,

04:10he tends to appreciate,

04:12we can't call him a full-time politician.

04:14Like, you know, he's not really a politician

04:18from head to toe.

04:19He's always been very appreciative of the Modi government

04:22as well as the left government

04:23whenever he feels they've done something good.

04:25So that's what he keeps saying,

04:27that, you know, I'm not a,

04:29like, you know, I'm not somebody

04:31who likes to point out just false.

04:33I'm somebody who likes to point out the good things also

04:36that's done by Modi government.

04:38So that way, his presence,

04:40if he joins the BJP at any cost,

04:43then I think the major boost will be a face for the party

04:47and neutral, you know,

04:49the influence it will create among,

04:51the impact it will create among the neutral voters.

04:54And also, you know,

04:57in Kerala, the problem with the BJP

04:58is it's being treated as a, you know,

05:00there's a right, you know,

05:02the communal Hindu party, Hindu extremist party.

05:05That's the kind of image.

05:06But when Tharoor comes into the group,

05:09it kind of changes also.

05:11Then you get that progressive,

05:14intellectual vibe to the party also

05:16among a very political audience in Kerala.

05:18So that will be a major boost if it happens.

05:21But yeah, I don't think that right now

05:25we have any concrete information

05:27that something like that will happen.

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