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‘Leaders like him are inflated balloons’: Shashi Tharoor on Kerala LoP Satheesan’s 'factionalism' remark
Shashi Tharoor said he has no differences with anyone in Congress and in his 14 years of political career he was not spoken or acted against anyone.
Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday rejected VD Satheesan’s charges that his trip to north Kerala was part of factionalism.
Satheesan, who is the the leader of the opposition in Kerala, on Tuesday said any kind of sectarianism or parallel activities would not be allowed in the party and warned that such moves would be dealt with “seriously.”
His remarks come as a significant section of the Congress party in the state were unhappy with Tharoor’s ongoing tour.
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Tharoor, who is in Kannur as part of his four-day tour of Malabar, said he was anguished to hear about the charge. How talking to students, meeting religious leaders, writers and attending programmes scheduled much earlier will become sectarianism, he asked.
“I have not joined any of the famous groups in the party. I have no plan to float one either. My group will be a united Congress party. I am against factionalism,” he said.
Tharoor asked how attending events and meeting some prominent persons in Kerala, along with MP M K Raghavan, could be construed as sectarian and said he was “a bit irritated” over the issues being created in the media.
Satheesan said Congress has enough space for everyone, but it will not tolerate any move to revive factionalism, the party has its own mechanisms and systems, he said.
Tharoor while speaking to the reporters in Kannu said, “I hope you (media) have not come here with balloons and air. I am sad and a bit irritated to hear such statements. Two party MPs are meeting many people openly and talking to them. I am ready to give the media that needle to burst the balloon,” said Tharoor ridiculing Satheesan’s statement. Leaders like him were “inflated balloons” and could be flattened with a pin prick, he said.
Tharoor said he has no differences with anyone in Congress and in his 14 years of political career he was not spoken or acted against anyone. “I don’t know why some leaders are getting worried like this. I don’t know some people are getting troubled when we meet people from various walks of life openly,” he said.
Kozhikode MP M K Raghavan, who organised the tour of Tharoor, said he sent letters to the Congress president and others about the “indifferent attitude.”
“We respect everyone including the one who is holding the needle to prick the balloon,” he said criticising Satheesan’s remarks.
