Cong leaders in Kerala jittery as Shashi Tharoor slams Emergency

Thiruvananthapuram, July 10 (IANS) Thiruvananthapuram Congress MP Shashi Tharoor set the cat among the pigeons on Thursday when he criticised late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi for imposing the Emergency, in an article to commemorate its 50 years, leaving Congress leaders in Kerala jittery.

No sooner did the Emergency article surface, that veteran Congress leader and former lawmaker K. Muraleedharan minced no words and asked Tharoor to decide "which party he is in at present."

“At the moment a discussion on Emergency is irrelevant. Incidentally Prime Minister Indira Gandhi herself had explained why Emergency was clamped,” said Muraleedharan.

However, Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, V.D. Satheesan diplomatically said he would reserve his statement on Tharoor.

“At the moment I will reserve my statement. He is a member of the Congress Working Committee and hence I will not react,” said Satheesan.

Veteran Congress legislator Ramesh Chennithala said he had no clue what Tharoor had written about Emergency as he had not seen the article.

On Wednesday too, Tharoor created a flutter when he shared on his X handle a pre-poll survey conducted by Mumbai-based VoteVibe, which named him as the most preferred candidate for the post of Kerala Chief Minister.

The post -- seemingly shared by a supporter -- also tagged senior Congress leaders, including Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, K.C. Venugopal, Priyanka Gandhi and V.D. Satheesan.

“In the Congress there are numerous capable leaders who are Chief Minister material. It’s irrelevant what a survey says as it’s the Congress party which will decide who will be the Chief Minister,” added Muraleedharan.

“When the UDF returns to power, someone from the UDF will become the Chief Minister. Let him first decide which party he is in now,” slammed Muraleedharan, son of legendary four time Chief Minister K. Karunakaran.

It is widely known in party circles that Tharoor's ties with the Congress central leadership have been strained since he decided to contest the party presidential election against Mallikarjuna Kharge.

The tension escalated further when his name was excluded from the list of Congress leaders recommended for the Union government's global outreach on 'Operation Sindoor'.

However, in a notable turn, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited Tharoor to lead a delegation to the US and other countries.

On his return, Tharoor acknowledged differences with the party leadership but said he was open to a dialogue if asked.

A four-time MP from Thiruvananthapuram since 2009, Tharoor topped the VoteVibe pre-poll survey with 28.3 per cent support among voters in the state.

However, the survey also flagged a leadership vacuum within the Opposition UDF, with 27.1 per cent of voters remaining undecided on the alliance's face.

--IANS

sg/rad