Congress tensions with Shashi Tharoor spark political churn across Kerala’s major camps.
New Delhi: Kerala Congress politics has become very interesting regarding MP Shashi Tharoor. He does not want to leave the party, but a faction of the party, which also includes leaders close to Rahul Gandhi, is trying to expel him. However, after the kind of statements made by some Congress leaders against Tharoor, it does not seem that Tharoor will remain in Congress. BJP and the ruling Left party are also keeping an eye on Tharoor’s next move.
Congress has lost elections in Kerala for two consecutive times. Kerala has also gradually become a big challenge for Congress in non-Hindi-speaking states. There has been a big change in Kerala poliAjit Maindolatics in the last ten years. Congress has become weak. BJP has strengthened itself. The ruling Left alliance has benefited from this. This is the reason why the Left alliance is hoping to return to power for the third time.
Assembly elections are to be held in Kerala after 10 months. BJP strategists are trying to somehow repeat the Left coalition government this time as well so that they can be in the real contest in the next elections. In the phase that Congress is going through, it is not going to get back to power easily. There are many reasons for this—factionalism, weakening of the organization, and no strong leaders. This means that the situation of Congress in Kerala is the same as it is in most states. There are no leaders left in the name of face. A.K. Antony has become old. Oommen Chandy has passed away. Ramesh Chennithala has been kept out of Kerala politics. The organization has become weak due to the absence of a strong leader.
Tharoor wanted the party to make him the face of Kerala. But K.C. Venugopal, the most trusted organization general secretary of the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, was not in favor of this. Venugopal also comes from Kerala. At present, he has full influence in Kerala politics. It was expected that the party would send him to Kerala as the face, but this did not happen. Sources reveal that Venugopal completely closed the path of Tharoor by making his close aide Joseph the state president. The reason behind this decision was that if Congress in Kerala comes to power, Venugopal will have no problem in becoming the CM. Another close aide of Rahul, Jairam Ramesh, is also in the anti-Tharoor group. Tharoor realized that the high command is not going to give him anything, so he started making statements different from the party.
