Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has decided to skip a key party meeting on Kerala elections that was called by the Congress high command. There are speculations that the reason he is not attending the party meet is because he felt insulted and snubbed during a party event in Kochi earlier this week, where Rahul Gandhi was also present.
The Kochi function was a big Mahapanchayat held to honour Congress leaders who won recent local body polls. The plan was that all leaders on stage would be introduced and acknowledged properly. But something happened that left Shashi Tharoor angry and hurt.
What exactly happened with Shashi Tharoor at Mahapanchayat?
According to reports, Rahul Gandhi mentioned the names of all the other Kerala leaders on stage except Shashi Tharoor. He also greeted many leaders when he first came on stage but he did not greet Tharoor or call him out by name. Many people who were attending found this action strange and unusual, especially because Tharoor is a senior Congress figure and a member of the party’s working committee.
Shashi Tharoor was also told before the event that only Rahul Gandhi would speak right after his speech. So Tharoor planned his talk around that. But when Rahul reached the stage, other leaders went on to speak after Rahul had arrived, not just him. That break in the plan made Tharoor feel his role was not respected.
Tharoor left the venue before the event ended as he was reportedly upset by the way things unfolded. He later told associates that it felt like he was deliberately sidelined and publicly embarrassed by the way things were handled.
Shashi Tharoor to attend future events?
It is believed that because of this, Shashi Tharoor has chosen to skip the strategy meeting in Delhi that was meant to focus on the Kerala Assembly election plan. Instead, he will attend the Kerala Literature Festival in Kozhikode the same day.
Other Congress leaders tried to play down his absence. Sandeep Dikshit said that the meeting would include all the “relevant people” and implied Tharoor’s absence wasn’t a big deal.
The whole incident has sparked a lot of talk inside the party. Supporters of Tharoor feel the Kochi snub shows a deeper divide and disagreements over respect and leadership roles within Congress especially in Kerala politics, where the party is gearing up for big elections.
