The Congress party’s present predicament is amply evident from the fresh brainwaves from senior parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor, which have embarrassed the grand old party. When Tharoor praised the LDF government in Kerala, which the Congress is opposing tooth and nail and he later dismissed criticism by claiming his views were based on facts, word spread that the former Union minister was only indirectly exposing the deep hurt he felt in being sidelined by the party. Perceptions were that he was not even given a decent seat in the AICC headquarters, possibly a rebuff based on his decision to contest the party president post against official nominee Mallikarjun Kharge. Alongside, it is common knowledge that the three-time MP from Thiruvananthapuram was being sidelined in the Kerala party as well. There too, the reason was obvious; namely his perceived attempt to be the next chief minister in the event the Congress party wins power in the state – where the Congress-led UDF has all along been strong. Tharoor had been airdropped into the parliament poll fray in 2009, shortly after he ended his long tenure in the United Nations. To his luck, he won the polls and never tasted defeat mainly due to his personal charisma, complemented by support he got from youth and women.
Tharoor is the odd man out in politics. In a sea of muscle flexing loudmouths on stage, he spoke sense by virtue of his high education, exposure to international bodies like the United Nations and his passion for reading and writing. Anybody else with his proclivities would have felt like a fish out of water in the political space here. With Manmohan Singh making him a Union Minister of state for External Affairs, his profile changed. The case surrounding the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar was another turning point in his life. Tharoor survived odds and opened another front when he went and stood against Mallikarjun Kharge for the Congress president’s post. From then on, Tharoor faced resistance from within the party on multiple fronts. His sudden praise of the LDF government was possibly done with the motive of telling the Congress leadership that he cannot be taken for granted for too long.
There may be merit in the argument of Congressmen that Tharoor was not being mindful of the party’s liberal grant of positions to him for the past many years even as he came in as a greenhorn in politics. Chances however are that he may get away with his act. Unlike other parties, the Congress gives its leaders the leeway to criticise the party. Tharoor does not have the grit or mass support at the national level, or even in his native state, to split the party or take on the leadership directly from a high pedestal. At the same time, it is incumbent on the Congress party to make use of him and those like him to keep providing an intellectual aura to the party.
