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Thiruvananthapuram: No matter that he is still in the Congress, the four-time MP Shashi Tharoor is getting increasingly isolated in the party in his home state, Kerala.
Tharoor, who represents Thiruvananthapuram in the Lok Sabha, was conspicuous by his absence in the high-voltage campaign for the June 19 Assembly by-poll from Nilambur in Malappuram district.
The star campaigners in Nilambur included Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi, in whose LS constituency the Assembly segment in Malappuram district falls.
Neither had the party invited Tharoor for electioneering, nor had he volunteered himself to campaign.
When Tharoor returned home after leading the multi-party delegation to the United States and four other countries as part of India’s post-Operation Sindoor global outreach, reporters asked him about his present standing in the party. He replied, in an evasive tone, that he was still very much in the Congress but had differences with the top leadership.
How long will this love lost between the party top brass and its long-serving MP continue? The party is unlikely to force Tharoor into a formal breakup, as that would prove advantageous to him. Instead, the party may choose to keep sidelining him.
Also, to the discomfiture of the Congress leadership, Tharoor is likely to be roped in by the government for future global missions, leveraging his experience in international relations.
Tharoor has been effusive in his praise of India’s handling of the post-Pahalgam stand-off with Pakistan. This has been sharply at variance with the party’s official narrative.
In one of his write-ups, referring to the outcome of the mission he led, Tharoor said, “The truth is that we have succeeded, emphatically and evidently, in what we set out to do…” He went on to say, “My delegation has come away from its mission immensely satisfied, having generated consequential international understanding and support for India’s just crusade against terror…”
Significantly, Tharoor’s unequivocal endorsement of the Modi government on Operation Sindoor coincided with the Congress’s “Surrender Narendra” campaign.
But what will Tharoor do in the event of a breakup, with the party top brass declining to work out a truce? The only viable option for him, in such an eventuality, will be to gradually move towards the BJP regime, if not the party itself.
In his home state, however, a bleak political future stares at him. Despite being a high-profile parliamentarian, Tharoor has no grassroots-level support in the state. He has scored consecutive victories in Lok Sabha polls since 2009 simply for being part of the Congress-led UDF coalition and the political factors that favour it. Personal accomplishments and resourcefulness do not count for much in Kerala’s politically driven electoral ecosystem.
The perception outside the state that Tharoor enjoys a big following among the aspirational class is unfounded. The reality is that his personal charisma has acted just as a minor catalyst in the electoral chemistry. The middle-class support he initially enjoyed in the constituency has steadily declined, with the BJP emerging as the principal challenger in elections since 2014 in the Kerala capital.
Though Tharoor had expressed interest in playing a larger role in Kerala Congress affairs, the party’s entrenched leadership—dominated by conventional players—largely kept him on the sidelines.
