Thiruvananthapuram: While the Congress is gearing up for high-stakes local body polls and a crucial assembly election in Kerala, its Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor has been mostly missing from the party’s strategy meetings and campaigns. But no one in the Congress seems surprised.
ThePrint asked Congress functionaries in the district about the MP’s involvement in local body poll activities, and many said he has been mostly absent from the state capital. In fact, Tharoor was the only UDF MP absent from the Congress’ campaign for the recently held Nilambur bypoll.
N. Sakthan, the current Thiruvananthapuram District Congress Committee president, told ThePrint that Tharoor is not very involved in formulating election strategy.
“His presence is less here and he hasn’t been involved that much in the elections. We don’t know if he is going to come later,” Sakthan said. He added that the party doesn’t feel the absence much because the MP’s service and presence have always been limited to his constituency.
Tharoor, a four-time MP from Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram, has been in the limelight for his public stands that usually deviate from the party line. In one such instance, the Congress leader heaped praise on PM Narendra Modi’s speech at the Ramnath Goenka Lecture (RNG Lecture). The speech, which criticised a “colonial era mindset”, also attacked the Congress party.
Tharoor’s apparent absence comes at a time when the Congress in Kerala is bracing for a crucial election season, with local body elections scheduled in two phases on 9 and 11 December, and assembly polls next year. The battle is particularly important for the Congress as it has been in the state’s Opposition for the past two terms. In Thiruvananthapuram, it assumes more significance as the party holds power in only one of the 14 assembly seats and 8 of the 100 corporation seats in the district.
“The 2026 election is very crucial for the Congress and we formed a core committee for overlooking party activities. Tharoor is there as the fourth or fifth member. So, it’s not a case of including him. We are doing what we can,” Unnikrishnan, a Congress functionary, told ThePrint.
The 17-member core committee formed this month is headed by AICC General Secretary Deepa Dasmunsi, who is in charge of the Kerala unit, KPCC president Sunny Joseph, Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan, and senior leaders K.C. Venugopal, A.K. Antony, Ramesh Chennithala and K. Muraleedharan among others. Muraleedharan, along with Sakthan, is in charge of the party’s local body poll preparation in Thiruvananthapuram.
ThePrint has reached Tharoor for comment via messages and calls. This report will be updated if a response is received.
‘Absent MP’
A former UN diplomat with roots in Kerala’s Palakkad district, Tharoor joined the Congress in 2009, and was fielded in Thiruvananthapuram that year for the Lok Sabha polls. A four-time MP since then, Tharoor’s margin in the Lok Sabha constituency has been weakening slowly. The victory margin of close to one lakh in both 2009 and 2019 dropped considerably to just 16,077 votes against BJP’s Rajeev Chandrasekhar in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
At the same time, the MP’s relationship with the party has also been weakening amid his continuous praise of the BJP government, including for Operation Sindoor. Similarly, his appreciation of the LDF government’s efforts to attract investments created friction within the Congress unit in Kerala.
Recently on 31 October, the MP also wrote an article in which he said: “The influence of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty… has cemented the idea that political leadership can be a birthright.” While the MP received criticism from many Congress functionaries, the Kerala unit has mostly remained silent.
“He is talented and has much fame. As a politician, he is not that experienced and rose from [a] young [age]. He suddenly entered…He takes independent stands at times. He may have his own motives too. So we are not taking it that seriously,” Sakthan said. He added that Tharoor won four times from Thiruvananthapuram because many local functionaries worked hard for it.
Since the Election Commission announced the dates for the local body polls, the MP has visited his constituency once, when he campaigned for a few candidates including mayoral candidate and former MLA K. S. Sabarinathan on Sunday. As per his office, the MP is scheduled to visit the district again in December.
Another Congress functionary, Unnikrishnan, a close associate of K. Muraleedharan who has been charged with managing the Thiruvananthapuram local body polls, said party functionaries were happy when Tharoor campaigned for its candidates.
The functionary also said Tharoor has been completely absent from local politics for the past few years, and the party is not particularly concerned. He said Tharoor should also understand the difficulties his statements create among local party cadres.
“We do need Tharoor. But it doesn’t mean that we need only him,” the functionary said.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: Why BJP is confident of big gains in Thiruvananthapuram civic polls