Congress vs Tharoor again? Kerala MP to skip key poll meet; Sandeep Dikshit says ‘relevant people coming’

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NEW DELHI: Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit took a vile dig at his party colleague Shashi Tharoor, saying the Thiruvananthapuram MP was “not relevant” to the party after the Kerala leader reportedly skipped a key meeting meant for the upcoming state assembly polls.Stepping up his attack on Tharoor, who has gradually been moved to the periphery of the party as the coastal state gears up for the crucial state polls, Dikshit said “it doesn’t make a difference” if leaders “who are not major figures” are absent in the meeting.”All the strong and senior leaders from Kerala are attending. Those who are relevant to the Congress are coming. It doesn’t make a difference if leaders who are not major figures or relevant to the party are absent,” Sandeep Dikshit told news agency IANS when asked about Tharoor skipping the Kerala poll meeting.

Tharoor, who is reportedly unhappy over Rahul Gandhi not meeting him during his visit to Kochi, will instead attend the Kerala literature festival. The controversy around Tharoor and his reported rift with the party erupted following a series of events that led to the experts connecting dots of the veteran leader’s dissatisfaction with his current position in the grand old party.The veteran Congress leader last year posted a quote by Thomas Gray– “Where ignorance is bliss, tis folly to be wise” — as the thought of the day. Later, in an interview with a Malayalam podcast, he warned that if the Congress failed to expand its appeal, it would remain in opposition for a third consecutive term in Kerala.He also remarked that many party workers felt a leadership vacuum within Kerala’s Congress. Citing his four-time election as MP from Thiruvananthapuram, he added that if the party no longer required his services, he had “other options,” including writing books.The feud between Tharoor and the Congress hit a new low after he skipped the party’s key huddle a day before the start of the Winter Session of Parliament last year. Tharoor has, at several times, questioned his role in the party.Tharoor also publicly criticised the leadership vacuum in the Kerala Congress and met Rahul Gandhi to seek clarity over his own role within the party.The Congress MP sparked controversy after he praised the ruling NDA government’s policies, both at the Centre and in the state of Kerala.His repeated praise for the Modi-government’s polices on Covid vaccine, Russia-Ukraine, and Operation Sindoor, made the Congress distance itself from his views. He even went against the party’s narrative to defend the Modi government over Donald Trump claiming credit for the India-Pakistan truce.​