Cold response from TNCC, but Shashi Tharoor firm on contesting

Shashi Tharoor received a muted response from well-known faces of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, who stayed away from his campaign at Sathyamurthy Bhavan

In a predictable turn of events, Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor received a muted response from well-known faces of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC), who stayed away from his campaign at Sathyamurthy Bhavan on Thursday. Mr. Tharoor, however, has defiantly said that he wouldn’t withdraw his nomination for the Congress President’s election, scheduled on October 17.

There were only handful of TNCC office-bearers among the 710 delegates from Tamil Nadu who are eligible to vote in the elections, which is perhaps an indication of the support elicited by Mr. Tharoor and his campaign. Responding to the question about the reluctance of delegates and leaders to be seen with him, Mr. Tharoor said it was rather unfortunate that doubts were being cast over the words of the Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the Gandhi family.

“I did see Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, and they said will be neutral. When they say that there would be free and fair elections, they [party delegates] must believe it. The chief election authority has said that it is not right to say there is an official candidate and that he (CEA chairman Madhusudhan Mistry) is going to ensure a totally secret ballot. No one can know who voted for whom. Few people have misinterpreted the declared position of the Congress president and Gandhi family,” he said. 

Mr. Tharoor said another possible reason why noted leaders were absent in his campaign could be that there has been no time. “The notice has been short. We started immediately after the nomination. Each person’s vote is the same – whether it is the president, general secretary or a party worker. Disempowered workers want a change and I am very happy to represent that change. It is a change – not an ideological change – but about the way we function and how to take on the BJP,” said Mr. Tharoor.

Mr. Tharoor added that he planned to decentralise the manner in which the organisation functioned, induct more women, and bring term limits for party posts.

Despite the top brass of the TNCC staying away, Mr. Tharoor took questions from some of his young fans from Kerala who had decided to come and meet him at Sathyamurthy Bhavan after seeing his tweets.

Earlier, Mr. Tharoor spoke to the students of IIT Madras and said politics needed people from all walks of life and urged them to consider entering politics.