Shashi Tharoor accuses INDIA ally Left of splitting Opposition votes, BJP's ‘surreal circus’ jab

Lok Sabha election: Shashi Tharoor is facing challenge from BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Left's Pannyan Raveendran in Thiruvananthapuram.

Updated on: Mar 19, 2024, 15:55:54 IST

By HT News Desk

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Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday hit out at INDIA ally Left, accusing it of trying to split opposition votes by fielding a candidate against him in Thiruvananthapuram in the Lok Sabha elections.

“Last two elections the BJP came second, if they're really so concerned about opposition unity why are they undercutting my vote by running a candidate whose campaigning has been entirely against me? I have not heard the left speaking against the BJP, they're speaking against me all the time and trying to take away for example minority votes,” Tharoor, a three-time MP from the Kerala state capital, was quoted by ANI as saying.

ALSO READ: Shashi Tharoor says he is convinced about BJP's defeat in 2024 Lok Sabha polls

“This is a tactic which can only help the third party namely the BJP, so I'm asking the CPI what are you talking about? Why are you doing this here? And then demanding alliance between Dharma and Wayanad be consistent that's my message,” he added.

Earlier in the day, Tharoor had taken to social media platform X to attack the Communist Party of India (CPI). “It’s ironic that the same @cpofindia that complains about @RahulGandhi’s candidature in Wayanad is playing the BJP’s game in Thiruvananthapuram. The only effect of the CPI’s campaign against me in Thiruvananthapuram is to divide the anti-BJP vote. And they preach alliance dharma in Wayanad!”

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is contesting his fourth Lok Sabha election from Thiruvananthapuram. (PTI)

Hitting back at Tharoor, CPI general secretary D Raja said,"It is an absurd statement. An educated man like Shashi Tharoor must understand the history of Kerala properly. It is the Left that is fighting the communal and fascist forces...so many Congress leaders are leaving and joining BJP."

Against Tharoor, the BJP has fielded Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Pannyan Raveendran, the Left Democratic Front's Lok Sabha candidate from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency, had said that the main fight in the constituency is between the LDF and the Congress-led UDF.

"The main contest is between LDF and UDF. BJP is irrelevant in Thiruvananthapuram," he told ANI. Kerala, which sends 20 members to the Lok Sabha, will vote in the second phase on April 26.

BJP mocks Cong-Left war of words

Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar slammed Congress over the infighting between the INDIA allies. “Everything about the Congress is beginning to look like a surreal circus because on one day Rahul Gandhi will attack 'Shakti' in Mumbai without knowing what that means...He is the sitting MP. This is an election to elect the next MP and he wants the voters to think about something else. I don't understand his logic.”

“This newly found strategy by the Congress to criticize their own INDI alliance partner CPM, CPI. What that game is I don't know. Except to say these are the two parties who have more commonality than any other two parties in India. They both have MoUs with China. They both want Narendra Modi to be toppled and they both today are in an alliance to keep Kerala and Thiruvananthapuram behind,” the minister told ANI.

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HT News Desk
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