Congress MP Shashi Tharoor declines CPI(M) invite for meet on orders from party chief Sonia Gandhi
Tweeting a typically verbose letter after being told off, Tharoor said that he had accepted the invitation since the event is a national one, and Congress has a cooperative relationship with the CPI (M) nationally.
FollowThiruvananthapuram: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday declined the invitation from Communist Party of India, Marxist (CPI-M) to their national seminar, following a chat with party president Sonia Gandhi.
Though the Lok Sabha MP had initially accepted the other party’s invite, he faced resistance from the Congress’ state unit, with KPCC chief K Sudhakaran barring Tharoor and fellow party leader KV Thomas from attending the ruling party’s programme.
Sources say when Congress leaders from Kerala met with Sonia Gandhi at the party's parliamentary office in Delhi, some raised concerns about their colleagues “embarrassing” the party by going for the CPM event. Sonia Gandhi, sources said, sternly said leaders who had been invited to the CPM’s seminar must comply with the decision of the Kerala state Congress.
Tweeting a typically verbose letter after being told off, Tharoor said that he had accepted the invitation since the event is a national one, and Congress has a cooperative relationship with the CPI (M) nationally.
He further stated that the topic for the seminar doesn’t involve any matter of sensitivity in Kerala but is on “center-state relations”, where there is no difference of opinion between CPI(M) and Congress.
Tharoor has already checked the box for defiance by joining a meeting last week of the "G-23" or group of 23 dissenters who had written to Sonia Gandhi two years ago, asking for an overhaul of the party organisation and “visible, full-time leadership”.
Interestingly, Shashi Tharoor had also attended a meeting of the Congress rebels last week. However, looking at his submission to Sonia Gandhi’s order today, it will be several decades before Tharoor dares to openly revel against present Congress leadership.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP has also rattled many Congress leaders in Delhi by praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a man of “tremendous vigour and dynamism” and crediting him with the BJP's huge victory in the Uttar Pradesh election. For the Congress, the elections in five states were an all-round disaster and in UP, yet another indicator that the Gandhis are unable to win voters back.
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