Tharoor slams CPI, says it is playing BJP’s game in Thiruvananthapuram

PTI, Mar 19, 2024, 9:29 AM IST

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor hit out at the CPI on Tuesday, saying that it is ironic that the Left party which complains about Rahul Gandhi’s candidature in Wayanad is ”playing the BJP’s game” in Thiruvananthapuram.

The Congress candidate from Thiruvananthapuram said the only effect of the CPI’s campaign against him in the constituency is to divide the anti-BJP vote, ”and they preach alliance dharma in Wayanad”.

Tharoor, who has been representing Thiruvananthapuram for the past 15 years in the Lok Sabha, is eyeing a record fourth term.

He is facing BJP’s Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and Electronics and Information Technology. The CPI has fielded Pannian Raveendran in the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat.

In a post on X, Tharoor said, ”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!” the former Union minister said.

Last week, CPI general secretary D Raja had said that fielding Gandhi from Kerala’s Wayanad is the Congress’s prerogative but the public opinion is that a leader of his stature should have contested a seat where he could directly challenge the BJP whose ideology he is fighting.

On Gandhi contesting from Wayanad, from where the CPI has fielded D Raja’s wife Annie Raja, the Left leader had told PTI, ”The public opinion is that a leader of his stature should have contested against the BJP because we are fighting the BJP ideologically, politically, at national level and in the states. So, as a leader of this fight, he should have contested BJP directly. That is one opinion.” He had asked what was the message the Congress was trying to send by fielding Gandhi from Kerala, a state ruled by the Left Democratic Front at present.

”…If he wanted to contest any seat from the southern part of India, he could have chosen a seat in Karnataka or in Telangana, wherever to fight BJP directly,” Raja had said, adding that it is public opinion, and not that of his party.

The Congress and the CPI are in alliance at the national level as part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) but in Kerala they are contesting against each other as part of the rival state blocs – United Democratic Front (UDF) and Left Democratic Front (LDF).