Undone by Kerala Congress politics, Shashi Tharoor sacked as spokesperson

Nearly a week ago, former union minister and Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor had “incensed” the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) leaders, irrespective of factions, uniting them in calling for disciplinary action. The reason, according to them, was that he praised prime minister Narendra Modi and his “Swachh Bharat” campaign. Today, the Congress party dropped him as party spokesperson for the same crime, apparently with the approval of Sonia Gandhi. Strikingly, that the Kerala unit of the Congress, which is otherwise an arena of an ongoing tug of war between its president and the chief minister, was speaking in a single voice against him betrayed the inherent dislike of the local leaders for Tharoor. Tharoor was always seen as an import, but the leaders had no option but to accommodate him because he came with the blessings of the high command. Now, at the slightest show of vulnerability, they have ganged up against him. [caption id=“attachment_1754659” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Dislike of Tharoor united even a battling Congress: PTI[/caption] On 11 October, the KPPC president VM Sudheeran had said that the state unit of the party had sent a complaint to the high command. Before preparing the formal complaint, all three top leaders of consequence namely, chief minister Oomen Chandy, home minster Ramesh Chennithala and Sudheeran, had spoken out against Tharoor and described how he had hurt the sentiments of the party workers. Chandy said that the complaint didn’t pertain to the present situation alone, but also reflected his behaviour over a period of time. The timing of the KPCC complaint was bad for Tharoor because it almost coincided with a leaked report by an AIIMS expert panel that examined the reason for the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar. The panel, according to the reports in the media, have concluded that she died of poisoning, but was clueless as to what the poison was. Curiously, the panel also went on to add that she suffered from no illness. Malayala Manorama, on Monday, reported that a section of the Congress in Kerala, which it termed as the “Tharoor camp”, feels that there is an organised campaign to malign the leader using the AIIMS report. The reappearance of the same old findings of the postmortem report in the media and the delay in disclosing the results of the investigation by the Central Forensic Sciences Lab are cited as pointers to such efforts. According to the Manorama report, which quoted “people close to Tharoor”, prior to her death in Delhi, Sunanda had sought medical treatment at a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram and the syringe marks on her body were from when she was at the hospital. A few days ago, Joseph Vazhakkan, a KPCC general secretary and spokesperson also appeared to be support Tharoor in a TV discussion. Faced by a hostile panel, which seemed to have concluded that Tharoor was guilty, Vazhakkan said the MP’s detractors were determined to find fault with him even before the investigations were complete. The appearance of a report in support of Tharoor and the support by a KPCC general secretary are interesting given the negative sentiments against him in the KPCC and the efforts by the left parties to target him. Quoting AICC sources, local media reported that KPCC had consulted with AICC before sending the complaint, indicating that even the high command is losing its patience on Tharoor. And today’s decision to remove him from the post of spokesperson confirmed the same. Meanwhile, many in the state’s political circles believe that the MP is moving closer to the BJP, which he has vehemently denied. A cartoon that was circulated widely in the social media showed him taking a “saffron bucket challenge”. The initial show of support for him, when he spoke for Swachh Bharat, by senior BJP leader O Rajagopal who fought against him in Thiruvananthapuram made people more suspicious. However, the same Rajagopal subsequently went to court asking for Tharoor’s disqualification for allegedly filing an incomplete nomination. Anyway, it’s tough time indeed for Tharoor, who for the time looks unfazed. He has opposition from both his leaders in Kerala as well as the rival parties. To make matters worse, he also has to fight his detractors who are ganging up against him using his wife’s untimely death and leaked media reports.