Youth Congress withdraws from hosting Shashi Tharoor in Kerala event

Neither the state Congress nor the Youth Congress (YC) cited any reason for the unexpected move, but sources in the party claimed that YC leaders in Kozhikode withdrew from the event at the behest of a section of Congress leaders.

Tharoor had recently put up a fight against party veteran Mallikarjun Kharge in the election for Congress president, which had created jitters in a section of the party. (File)

In a curious political development, the Youth Congress has withdrawn from hosting Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s talk on “Sangh Parivar and challenges to secularism”, slated to be held in Kozhikode on Sunday.

Neither the state Congress nor the Youth Congress (YC) cited any reason for the unexpected move, but sources in the party claimed that YC leaders in Kozhikode withdrew from the event at the behest of a section of Congress leaders.

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The talk organised by YC’s Kozhikode district committee was one of the events slated to be attended by Tharoor during his four-day tour of north Kerala, which is seen as part of his strategy to get active in Congress-led UDF politics in Kerala.

Tharoor had recently put up a fight against party veteran Mallikarjun Kharge in the election for Congress president, which had created jitters in a section of the party.

Party sources said no reason, other than technical, has been cited for the YC’s decision to withdraw from hosting the talk. At the same time, the lecture would not be abandoned — it will now be held at the same venue in Kozhikode under the aegis of Jawahar Youth Foundation, a pro-Congress group.

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Kozhikode MP M K Raghavan, who had backed Tharoor in the election for party chief’s post, is also attending the event. Party’s Kozhikode district president Praveen Kumar, whose name had earlier figured in the YC list of the event, is, however, missing in the same event organised by Jawahar Youth Foundation.

Youth Congress state unit vice-president and former legislator K S Sabarinadhan said in a post on Facebook, “Through this programme, Tharoor could have highlighted the Congress’s secular stand in North Kerala. But I came to know through the media that a direction was given from certain quarters to change this programme.”

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Sabarinadhan, another Congress leader from Kerala who had backed Tharoor in the election against Kharge, questioned the development in Kerala at a time party leader Rahul Gandhi’s statement against V D Savarkar during his Maharashtra leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra has given a new energy to the party. “Tharoor also would have shared a similar thought in the Congress venue in Kozhikode. This controversy could have been avoided. At the same time, Tharoor is not short of venues,’’ Sabarinadhan wrote in the post.

Sources close to Tharoor said he will attend another event hosted by pro-Congress Indian Lawyers Congress, a professional association of lawyers, in Kozhikode on Sunday. In the coming days, Tharoor is scheduled to attend various events associated with UDF ally Indian Union Muslim League, which has recently taken strong exception to state Congress president K Sudhakaran’s pro-RSS statements. Apart from that, he will meet various people from different walks of life.

On Saturday evening, Tharoor met Thamarassery Catholic diocese bishop Remigiose Inchananiyil along with Kozhikode MP Raghavan. The bishop is known for raising farmers’ issues in public forums and Tharoor meeting the clergy is seen as an attempt to win the confidence of farmers from Christian community. The Thamarassery Bishop has a considerable stake in Thiruvambady Assembly constituency, which comes under Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, represented by Rahul Gandhi.