Congress views Shashi Tharoor’s Malabar pitch as politically fractious

Mr. Tharoor’s Malabar campaign triggered an acrimonious war of words between leaders of the state.

Shashi Tharoor | Photo Credit: PTI

Congress leadership in Kerala has reportedly perceived Shashi Tharoor’s Malabar tour, as an “ill-timed and potentially fractious” parallel political campaign conducted independently of the party’s State machinery.

Without mentioning Mr. Tharoor by name, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said the Congress would not brook leaders conducting political business outside the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee’s (KPCC) remit.

“The State leadership will not allow anyone to weaken the party from within,” Mr. Satheesan said. He said the Congress tent was expansive and accommodative, with sufficient space for all leaders. However, there was no room for factionalism.

Mr. Satheesan’s words were widely interpreted as an indictment of Mr. Tharoor’s “non-conformist” political sally into Malabar.

Mr. Tharoor attended public functions, glad-handled Congress workers and conferred with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), triggering speculation that the leader was politically positioning himself to head a rising faction in the Congress.

Mr. Tharoor’s Malabar campaign convulsed the party in Kerala. For one, it has triggered an acrimonious war of words between leaders.

Secondly, party workers felt blindsided and torn between pro and anti-Tharoor factions without a clear KPCC diktat spelling out its position on the Malabar campaign.

The pro-Tharoor camp has countered accusations of one-upmanship and bid to bypass the KPCC leadership by stating that Mr. Tharoor stood for a transformative agenda that would help bring people of different political persuasions under the Congress umbrella.

IUML leaders demurred when queried about Mr. Tharoor’s purported entry into State politics after a failed but high-profile campaign for the All India Congress Committee presidency. Mr. Tharoor said he was for unity and not factionalism.

Mr. Tharoor’s perceived tampering with traditional party functioning has ruffled several feathers in the KPCC.

At the national level, AICC general secretary Tariq Anwar endorsed KPCC president K. Sudhakaran’s whip to Congress leaders, asking them to desist from making public statements for or against Mr. Tharoor’s Malabar pitch.

The KPCC leadership felt the Malabar tour hobbled its effort to draw the party away from factional differences and work as a collaborative Opposition, especially after the morale-boosting gains made by the UDF in the Thrikkakkara Assembly byelection and the recent local body bypolls.

However, it was keen to avoid a confrontation with Mr. Tharoor when Kerala politics was on the cusp of entering a delicate and pivotal period ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.