Kerala: Won’t allow sectarianism in Congress, says Satheesan; Tharoor unfazed 

Apparently rattled by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s Malabar tour, the Leader of Opposition in the Kerala assembly, V D Satheesan, 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.”

The state unit of the Congress is on a comeback path in Kerala after two consecutive debacles in the Assembly elections and it is not healthy enough to afford any more parallel activities by anyone, Satheesan told reporters.

His remarks come as a significant section of the Congress party in the state was unhappy with Tharoor’s ongoing tour. Asked about Tharoor’s Malabar tour, Satheesan said every leader has a space within the Congress and no one is against it, but the party has its own mechanisms and systems.

“The Congress in Kerala is not at all healthy to afford any more parallel activities…after suffering two drubbings in the assembly polls, the party is on a comeback mode in the state. Everybody is working as a team now. At this time, no one will be allowed to do any parallel activities,” Satheesan said, without mentioning any name.

Also read: Benched by Cong nationally, Tharoor plays on the front foot in Kerala

Accusing a section of the media of “peddling stories with an agenda” to weaken the Congress in the southern state, he said the party could not accept this also. “We cannot accept the agenda of weakening the Congress party even if it is done by any media or social media. If anyone within the party has any role in this, it will be dealt with seriously,” he said.

Satheesan also said such false news reports could not destroy leaders like him as they were not “inflated balloons,” who could be punctured with a pin prick. Though mediapersons repeatedly asked whether Tharoor was an “inflated balloon,” he declined to comment.

The LoP also indicated that the Thiruvananthapuram MP did not take part in any of the ongoing agitations by the party workers in the state capital, which was Tharoor’s constituency. Tharoor’s opponents in the party feel that through his programmes, he was trying to position himself as an ideal Chief Ministerial candidate of the Congress-led UDF for the 2026 Assembly polls to end the rule of the CPI(M)-led LDF in the state.

Tharoor, unfazed 

Meanwhile unfazed over the internal rumblings in the party’s Kerala unit on his Malabar tour and the swelling support for him, Tharoor said neither was he afraid of anyone nor should anyone fear him, as he continued his tour of the region and also met senior leaders of his party-led UDF ally IUML on Tuesday.

In response to a query by the media as to who was afraid of his tour, Tharoor said, “I do not fear anyone and there is no need for anyone to be afraid of me.” He also said he was not interested in creating any group within the state Congress.

Also read: Hail Shashi Tharoor, the real winner of the Congress presidential poll

The Thiruvananthapuram MP’s remarks assume significance amidst speculation that a section of the Congress leadership in Kerala appears to be apprehensive over the increasing support he was enjoying and the emergence of a ‘Tharoor group’ within the party in the state, where it lost power to rival CPI(M) in 2016.

Tharoor, however, downplayed his meeting with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leaders at the residence of Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal at Panakkad by saying it was just a courtesy call on the way to an event in the district.

Other senior IUML leaders present there also termed his visit as nothing unusual and said they all go and meet Thangal whenever they pass through the area. Tharoor, accompanied by his staunch supporter and MP M K Raghavan, also said he has no intention or interest in creating a group.

(With inputs from Agencies)