Shashi Tharoor Skips Rahul Gandhi's Meet For Congress MPs, 3rd Time In A Row

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is now three-for-three.

The Thiruvananthapuram MP – widely seen as being on thin ice with the Congress' central leadership after comments that seem to praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party – missed a meeting, his third in as many weeks, of the party's Lok Sabha lawmakers Friday.

Rahul Gandhi led the Congress' 99 MPs in a huddle this morning to review their performance so far and readjust attacks on the BJP before Parliament's winter session closes next week, on December 19.

Tharoor was not present. His X timeline mentioned private events – the wedding of his long-time aide, John Koshy, in Kolkata, and the birthday of his sister, Smita Tharoor.

I'm in Kolkata today for the wedding of my long-term aide John Koshy, and the birthday of my sister @SmitaTharoor. In between we are squeezing in a literary conversation with @TedhiLakeer as well! All welcome: pic.twitter.com/yhNy4UeCVq

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) December 11, 2025

Chandigarh MP Manish Tiwari was also absent.

The two earlier meetings Tharoor skipped were in November.

The first was on November 30, a strategy meet chaired by Sonia Gandhi – whose leadership he and other 'rebel' leaders questioned in August 2020.

He later told reporters, "I did not skip it; I was on a plane coming from Kerala."

The MP's officer later confirmed his 90-year-old mother and he were flying to Delhi on a rescheduled flight, which made it impossible to be present at the party meeting. On that occasion another senior Congress leader – KC Venugopal – was also absent.

The second was on November 18, a meeting on the party's opposition to the contentious Special Intensive Revision, or voter re-verification exercise. That discussion was led by Gandhi and party boss Mallikarjun Kharge. Tharoor had cited ill health for his absence.

A day before that the Congress leader attended a private event at which the Prime Minister spoke, and an X post by the Kerala MP praising the speech kicked up another big row.

Two Congress leaders, Supriya Shrinate and Sandeep Dikshit, had rubbished the PM's speech and questioned Tharoor's comments. The latter even suggested Tharoor leave the Congress (and join the BJP, a switch Tharoor has always junked) if he found the PM so impressive.

READ | Shashi Tharoor's "Ideological Purity" Comeback To PM Speech Post Criticism

Tharoor hit back with a brief lesson in practicality and expediency in India's multi-party federal set-up – in which the central and state governments are usually led by rival groups with sharply opposing views on development - and called on these to display a "willingness to cooperate across ideologies" to serve those who elected them to power.

Sources told NDTV the last party meet Tharoor attended was in October; the Congress' Kerala unit held a marathon six-hour discussion, at which Gandhi and Kharge were present, as too was Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the MP from Wayanad, to prep for next year's Assembly election.

This morning's meeting was led by Rahul Gandhi – the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha – who offered encouraging words to fellow lawmakers, repeating claims from Thursday that concerted attacks by the Raebareli MP and his sister, Priyanka Gandhi, had rattled the BJP, including Amit Shah.

"Amit Shahji was very nervous... He used the wrong language, his hands were trembling... he is under tremendous mental pressure. Everybody saw this yesterday," Gandhi claimed.

With input from agencies

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