Congress leadership may hold talks with Shashi Tharoor to resolve differences

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor (file image)

• Congress to hold talks with Tharoor after his absence from Kerala poll meeting
• Tharoor to address issues with party leadership soon
• Congress seeks unity before Kerala polls, buoyed by local victories

Did our AI summary help?

The Congress leadership is expected to hold talks with senior party leader Shashi Tharoor following his absence from a key brainstorming meeting on the Kerala elections last week, which sparked speculation about his discontent with the party.

According to a Times of India report, sources have indicated that the Congress brass may invite Tharoor for talks to address his grievances.

Tharoor recently sparked speculation after skipping a strategy meeting convened by the AICC for select senior Kerala leaders to discuss preparations for the upcoming Assembly polls. The meeting, chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, was attended by all other key leaders from the poll-bound state.

Tharoor, who was in Kozhikode for the Kerala Literature Festival, said he had informed the party in advance about his inability to attend. However, the Thiruvananthapuram MP also acknowledged that he has certain issues with the party leadership that he wishes to raise, and conceded that some media reports about his dissatisfaction were accurate.

"All I can say is that there are issues which I need to take up with my own party leadership and not in a public forum…I will be going to Delhi for Parliament and I will get an opportunity, I believe, to make my concerns very clear to the party leadership and get their viewpoint… have a proper conversation," Tharoor said.

"I am in Congress for the past 17 years. Let's not go too far…as far as I am concerned, whatever has gone wrong, needs to be addressed and it will be addressed in an appropriate forum," he told PTI Videos.

A party manager told TOI the Congress brass is focused on maintaining cohesion ahead of the Kerala polls, believing that the United Democratic Front (UDF) has a realistic chance of toppling the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government. This confidence, the manager added, stems from the Opposition’s impressive results in the local body elections held last month.