Team News Riveting
Kochi, September 20
Senior Congress leader and Member of Parliament (MP) Shashi Tharoor has failed to keep his own house in order as leaders from his native Kerala state have opposed his candidature for the party presidential poll.
A senior leader on Tuesday said it was a personal decision of the Thiruvananthapuram MP while other making it clear that the state unit would vote only for those who recognise the prominence of the Nehru family. Tharoor’s colleagues in the Lok Sabha Kodikunnil Suresh and K Muraleedharan indirectly expressed their discontent over the move on the sidelines of the on-going Bharat Jodo Yatra.
They also made it clear that the state unit wanted Rahul Gandhi to take up the top party post. “If he is not willing to take up the position, a person acceptable to the AICC (All India Congress Committee) and the majority of leaders and workers should come to that post. That is the wish of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and all of us,” Suresh told reporters.
The former union minister, Suresh said that as far as Shashi Tharoor’s candidature was concerned, the decision to contest was taken by himself and it was not yet clear whether he had made any deliberations at the party level in this regard. “So, Shashi Tharoor’s contest in the party president poll is not viewed as a serious contest. As far as the party is concerned, the precedent was to choose a person who is acceptable to the majority of party leaders and workers,” a seven-time member of the Lok Sabha added.
