"Upset" Shashi Tharoor Skips Rahul Gandhi's Key Kerala Congress Meet

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor – amid reports he is 'upset' with senior party leader Rahul Gandhi over a lack of 'due respect' when the latter visited Kerala last week – has skippped a key meeting to prep for the Assembly election later this year.

Confirmation Tharoor did not participate in the meeting - which began at 2.30 pm - followed a day of 'will he, won't he' after sources close to him said he would attend virtually. Sources said Tharoor was only unable to be physically present because of a scheduling conflict; he had committed to an appearance at a literature festival in Kozhikode. However, NDTV was later told Tharoor had skipped the meeting entirely, due to that prior engagement, and had informed the party about his unavailability.

Top leaders from the Congress' state unit were to meet Rahul Gandhi and party boss Mallikarjun Kharge in Delhi this afternoon. As a four-time MP from state capital Thiruvananthapuram, Tharoor was expected to attend, even though his relations with the party are uneasy, at best. A diplomat by training, Tharoor is widely seen as being on thin ice with the Congress' central leadership after comments that appear to praise the Prime Minister and the ruling BJP.

These include remarks about the Prime Minister's handling of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor, i.e., the retaliatory military strikes on Pakistan, as well as occasional critical comments in the media about the party and its leadership issues.

The remarks triggered fierce retorts from the Congress, including bitter comments about Tharoor angling for a jump to the BJP. Tharoor, however, flatly ruled out any talk of a switch; in June last year he told NDTV he had remained loyal to the party and its ideology for 16 years.

"It (praise for the Prime Minister) is not a sign of my leaping to join his party... as some people have, unfortunately, been implying. It is a statement of national unity..." he said.

But talk of that switch, however, never really went away. In fact the tension between Tharoor and the Congress – which the BJP frequently pounces on to mock its rival – played out Thursday too.

The Lok Sabha MP posted a selfie with ex-Bharatiya Janata Party MP and current India men's cricket team coach Gautam Gambhir, whom he praised for holding down "the second-hardest job in India, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi".

And the BJP's Shehzad Poonawalla responded. He drew parallels between Tharoor's comment about cricket fans second-guessing Gambhir's coaching and tactics and the opposition doing the same to the PM, accusing the latter of acting against national interests.

"... Tharoor's acknowledgement that Prime Minister Modi has the hardest job in India... given how he is second-guessed by an opposition that puts parivarik (family) interests above Bharat's..."

Poonawalla also predicted "one more Congress fatwa against Tharoor", referring to continuing friction between the MP and his party, friction that seems to be burning bridges between them.