00:00And we have some news coming in at this point in time.
00:02We are hearing that Shashi Tharoor has put the Prime Minister over the meeting
00:06that was to take place as far as the Congress is concerned over elections.
00:11Our sources indicating that Tharoor skipped the Congress meeting for the Prime Minister.
00:16A mega split in the Kerala Congress.
00:19Tharoor has been sulking and has now rebelled against the Congress top brass.
00:25Insulted, Tharoor snubs the high command here.
00:29Tharoor has skipped the Congress-Kerala poll meeting.
00:32It was to take place in Delhi where the Kerala Congress huddle was underway
00:35for the elections in the state of Kerala.
00:38Sources say the Prime Minister, because he had an event in Turum and the Purim
00:43where he was earlier today, Tharoor needed to be there.
00:47Therefore, he had obtained permission from the party high command to be absent
00:51from today's meeting in Delhi.
00:54This is what we are learning.
00:58I am going to go straight across to Rahul Gautam for more details in that story.
01:05It was being speculated that seating arrangement is what Tharoor was upset about.
01:09Now, we know that it is not just one issue, but more than one.
01:12He wanted to be in Thiraventapuram, his parliamentary constituency,
01:16when the Prime Minister was there earlier today.
01:19Rahul?
01:19Well, you know, this is what we are learning from AICC sources that Shashi Tharoor had,
01:29in fact, informed high command and party headquarters here about his absence for this important meeting,
01:37which is still underway.
01:38Right now, I am standing right outside Malikarjun Kharge's residence, that's 10 Rajajji mark,
01:42where all Kerala MPs, except for Mr. Tharoor, are currently meeting Rahul Gandhi and Malikarjun Kharge.
01:51But, you know, this is not the first time when Mr. Tharoor has, in fact, skipped, you know, a party's event.
01:57And if you remember earlier also, you know, at least on two occasions, you know,
02:02one, you know, the rally that was called against Voteshwari by Rahul Gandhi, that event,
02:09and a meeting called by Congress, you know, CPP chairperson, that's Sonia Gandhi.
02:15In fact, they skipped those two meetings.
02:17And obviously, you know, this only gives an opportunity to BJP or the opponents of Congress Party
02:23to say that all is not well between, you know, Sushi Tharoor and his party colleagues.
02:30However, at this point of time, for this particular meeting, AICC sources are telling us
02:34that this meeting was kept by Mr. Tharoor, essentially because of the reason
02:40that Prime Minister was visiting his constituency, he was holding a government program,
02:45and therefore, by the virtue of being local MP, Mr. Tharoor was supposed to be there.
02:51But clearly, it seems that, you know, all these frequent, you know, absence of Mr. Tharoor
02:58is only giving, you know, fuel to these speculations that whether all is not well between him
03:03and, you know, his party leaders.
03:06And therefore, it seems that just ahead of elections, because we are at the very onset of the election,
03:12it seems that all this is only giving an opportunity to opponents of Congress Party,
03:17and it seems that it is left parties and BJP who seems to be having the last laugh.
03:21Well, absolutely. But as far as elections are concerned, the state doesn't really all go well for the Congress Party.
03:27We know that even with the state Congress, there have been tensions as far as their MP from Thiravantapuram.
03:32Tharoor is concerned. But what really is the way forward as far as the electoral prospects of the UDF is concerned?
03:38In question here, Rahul.
03:44Well, Congress is, you know, pretty confident about Kerala, because of the fact that in recent local body polls,
03:50if you remember, Congress, you know, performed really well.
03:53And many believe that this is actually going to become the bedrock for the upcoming assembly elections.
03:58And therefore, they are not taking, you know, the issue of infighting, you know, in Kerala unit lightly and deaf.
04:07That's why this meeting has been called to give, you know, clear-cut directions to all the Kerala leaders
04:12to not speak, you know, about alliances, about seats, you know, about contentious issues,
04:18because this actually, you know, makes or damages the electoral prospects of the Grand Ole Party in Kerala.
04:25And obviously, you know, we all know that there are factions within Kerala Congress.
04:30There is one which is being led by Mr. Ramesh Shenny Thala.
04:33Then there is one which is, you know, said to be led by Mr. Casey Benugopal.
04:37Then there is other leaders as well, like Viti Satishan, Shashi Tharoor.
04:41So all these leaders, you know, not coming together, you know, maybe for the, you know, for two opportunities,
04:49we have been seeing all these leaders coming in.
04:52But for the fact of the matter, we all know that, you know, there are some issues, you know, within this leadership.
04:58And that's why this meeting has been called by top leadership of Congress Party, including Malik Arjun, Kargay, Rahul Gandhi.
05:05And you can expect that a clear-cut roadmap would be given to these leaders.
05:09You know, you can say that, you know, all the narrative building campaigns, all the issues that will be taken up by the Congress Party in the longer run,
05:18all these things, you know, were discussed in this important meeting.
05:21And in a way, we can say that from this meeting, you can say that these leaders, these Kera leaders will be taking mantra, success mantra for the upcoming polls from Rahul Gandhi and Malik Arjun, Kargay.
05:34And obviously, they would try to toe the line and say within the party is disciplined because of the fact that many believe within AICC that the comments that are being made by several leaders are actually hurting the electoral prospects of Congress ahead of assembly polls.
05:51All right, I'm going to leave it at that for the moment, getting in those details as my colleague Rahul Gautam reporting through his sources on the fact that indeed Tharoor had taken permission rather before skipping the important meeting on the elections which is taking place in Delhi.
06:08And as battle lines sharpen in Kerala ahead of the polls in 2026, a familiar fault line appears to be resurfacing within the Congress.
06:16It's Tharoor versus the party.
06:17So, Saseh Shashi Tharoor is, of course, we do know that he skipped the meeting on Kerala poll strategy, but he was miffed, we know, with the state leadership and the high command.
06:28Instead, he is attending the Kerala Literature Festival.
06:31The trigger is apparently the Kochi Maha Panchayat event.
06:36A protocol was breached as seating is concerned.
06:38The speaker order would change at the last minute.
06:40Tharoor was not publicly acknowledged, we hear, by Rahul Gandhi.
06:44A move his supporters say ignored his seniority.
06:46Now, remember, this isn't the first time Tharoor has diverged from the Congress's line.
06:51In July 2025, he called the emergency a dark chapter, drawing criticism.
06:56In August, he backed a bill allowing removal of PMs and CMs, which Congress labeled Raconian.
07:01He supported the government's stand on Pakistan's ceasefire and rejected Donald Trump's dedicated Kerala Jaipe,
07:07both positions at odds with party messaging and party's own position.
07:10In November, he praised LK Advani on his birthday, forcing the Congress to distance itself from his remarks.
07:16China's
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