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Shashi Tharoor absent again from key Congress meet, gives a ‘plane’ reason | Watch
The meeting was chaired by Sonia Gandhi and was convened to discuss the Congress strategy for the Parliament session that began on December 1
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's currently complicated relationship with his party saw another chapter as a crucial session of Parliament began on Monday. The Congress Working Committee (CWC) member was absent yet again from a key party meeting on Sunday, on the eve of the winter session.
“I didn’t skip it. I was on a plane coming from Kerala. That’s all,” was his succinct reply when asked about it outside Parliament.
The meeting was chaired by Sonia Gandhi and was convened to discuss the party's strategy for the session. The session started on a stormy note as the Congress-led Opposition is insisting on discussions on the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls and the issue of national security in the wake of the recent blast in Delhi.
Tharoor's office did elaborate a bit on the explanation for why he missed the meeting: he was traveling back from Kerala with his 90-year-old mother on a flight around the same time. For context, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal also missed the Sunday meeting, citing campaigning for local body elections as his reason for not reaching Delhi.
But Tharoor's miss sits in a pattern since Operation Sindoor.
Previously, he cited ill health for missing a Congress meeting called on the SIR issue. Questions arose when he was seen attending an event where PM Narendra Modi delivered a lecture the very next day. He also made posts praising the PM on his Instagram account.
Tharoor has been far from agreeable with his party since PM Modi's BJP-led NDA regime made him part of delegations of MPs for global diplomatic outreach after Operation Sindoor against Pakistan.
More directly, he recently wrote an article listing the Nehru-Gandhi family as an example of dynastic politics determinantal to merit. He did not cite any example from BJP leaders' families in that write-up, and earned praise from the party.
“The influence of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty… is bound up with the history of India’s struggle for freedom. But it has also cemented the idea that political leadership can be a birthright…” he wrote, giving ammunition to the BJP in the midst of the then ongoing assembly election in Bihar, which his party lost badly.
BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla had called Tharoor “khatron ke khiladi” (playing with danger) for directly calling out "nepo kid" Rahul Gandhi. BJP national Spokesperson CR Kesavan also called the article a “truth bomb”.
This came just after he offered profuse praise and birthday wishes for BJP veteran LK Advani. He also defended Advani's political legacy that carries allegations of communilising India's politics.
Congress publicity department chief Pawan Khera later said Tharoor was speaking in his personal capacity, "like always". Khera added that Tharoor continuing to hold his position as a Congress MP and CWC member, despite expressing such views "reflects the essential democratic and liberal spirit unique to INC (Indian National Congress)".
One Congress leader, not willing to be named, remarked to news agency ANI that if Tharoor truly believed the BJP or PM Modi’s strategies are superior, he must explain why he remains in the Congress; otherwise, "he is a hypocrite".
Congress spokesperson Supriya Srinate also questioned Tharoor's judgement, noting that she found PM Modi's recent lecture, which Tharoor praised, to be "petty". She said she “confused” how Tharoor found anything worth appreciating in it.
