NEW DELHI: After weeks of visible discomfort, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi finally met the senior leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday.The PTI sources described it as a detailed “redressal” meeting ahead of the crucial Kerala assembly polls.
The meeting, held in Kharge’s chamber in the Parliament House complex, lasted for over an hour and forty-five minutes and came amid party concerns that the Tharoor episode could snowball into a larger messaging problem in Kerala, where Congress is pushing hard to return to power after a decade in opposition.Emerging from the meeting, Tharoor struck a deliberately upbeat tone. “We had a discussion with my two party leaders, the LoP and the Congress president. We had a very good, constructive, positive discussion,” he told reporters. Shutting down recent speculations, he said, “All is good and we are moving together on the same page. What more can I say.”
Inside the meeting
Sources told news agency PTI that it was a “comprehensive” meeting in which “a wide array of subjects were covered” and that Kharge and Gandhi made “the time necessary for a thorough discussion.” Tharoor later reinforced the truce with a post on A photo from the meeting showing Tharoor, Rahul and Kharge smiling was also put out on social media.
What wasn’t discussed: CM face
Asked if the issue of the chief ministerial face for Kerala was discussed, Tharoor attempted to close that door firmly.“That was never the issue,” he said, adding: “I am not interested in being the candidate for anything. At the moment I am already an MP … I have their interest to look after in Parliament, that is my job.”The meeting comes after Tharoor was reportedly upset about the treatment meted out to him at a recent Kochi event and what his camp saw as attempts by some state leaders to sideline him. The immediate tipping point, sources close to him had said, was Rahul Gandhi allegedly not acknowledging Tharoor on stage at the ‘Maha Panchayath’ in Kochi on January 19, even while mentioning other leaders. Tharoor, a four-time MP and one of the Congress Working Committee members from Kerala, was present on the day. Soon after, he skipped a key Kerala strategy meeting chaired by Kharge, triggering speculation that internal tensions were deepening at precisely the wrong moment.Congress is seeking to wrest power from the Left after 10 years in opposition. In that backdrop, the last thing the leadership can afford is the spectacle of internal rivalries, especially when the BJP is also attempting to expand its footprint and the LDF remains organizationally tight.A senior Congress source told PTI: the “proof of the pudding will be in the eating” and the next few weeks will show whether the “same page” line translates into actual political coordination.
