In a party ecosystem dominated by entrenched group wars, visible alignments, and invisible fault lines, Tharoor swims stubbornly against the tide.
Published Jun 07, 2025 | 3:00 PM ⚊ Updated Jun 07, 2025 | 3:00 PM
Shashi Tharoor campaigning ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election in Thiruvananthapuram.
Synopsis: Even as national media is lauding Shashi Tharoor’s diplomacy overseas post-Operation Sindoor, his party, the Indian National Congress, is in a dilemma over whether to accept or reject him. The MP from Thiruvananthapuram has become a bitter-sweet pill for the party, even as the diplomat-turned-politician seems unperturbed. However, indications are that the going will not be smooth for Tharoor.
Shashi Tharoor is a name that defies easy definitions. A diplomat, parliamentarian, prolific writer, rhetorician, and an unapologetic contrarian within his party, Tharoor has often been both an asset and an enigma for the Congress.
But of late, the winds haven’t exactly been in his favour.
His growing polarity with both state and central leadership of the Indian National Congress (INC) over issues ranging from Operation Sindoor to Kerala’s startup ecosystem has left the party uneasy.
As one Congress insider wryly puts it, “Tharoor is like that pill. You don’t know whether to swallow or spit it out.”
Fuelled by persistent murmurs of a possible switch to the BJP, these tensions have only thickened the political air around him.
And with Kerala stepping into an election season — first the local bodies, then the Assembly — Tharoor’s moves are no longer just about personal politics; they’re about the Congress party’s future in a state it cannot afford to loss.
Love him or loathe him, Tharoor remains a political juggernaut that no one, least of all the Congress, can afford to ignore.
When it comes to Kerala’s high-stakes political turf, Tharoor remains an enigma — a four-time MP, an urbane orator, a darling of a niche voter base, yet a political loner in a faction-ridden Congress state unit.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor leading a high-level all-party parliamentary delegation to brief on Operation Sindoor.
The question lingers: Is the Tharoor factor still a force to reckon with, or is it an overrated sideshow in Kerala’s electoral theatre?
In a party ecosystem dominated by entrenched group wars, visible alignments, and invisible fault lines, Tharoor swims stubbornly against the tide.
While he continues to hold sway over urban middle-class voters, insiders claim that a section of women and youth is beginning to see his once-unassailable charm fade.
The million-dollar question, though — one that refuses to die down in Kerala’s political grapevine — is whether the Congress leadership, both at state and national levels, is willing to seriously harness the Tharoor brand in upcoming electoral battles in Kerala — the 2025 Local Body Election and 2026 Assembly Election.
The answer, for now, seems to be a cold, calculated “no”.
“From the outside, it’s all smiles and camaraderie. Inside, there’s simmering unease,” a local Congress leader from Thiruvananthapuram confided.
“We at the grassroots face this question every day: Is Tharoor joining the BJP? The frequent developments, his ambiguous posturing, and growing disconnect with the party’s leadership only deepen these doubts. He has become a personality everyone watches, but no one fully trusts. He is taken with a pinch of salt.”
And therein lies the paradox. A leader with national recall value, an MP with a fan following, yet a political island within his party.
Tharoor’s political journey in Kerala has always been a paradox.
Shashi Tharoor during Palakkad Assembly by-election campaign in November 2024.
Despite winning four consecutive Lok Sabha elections from Thiruvananthapuram since 2009, his position within the state’s Congress ecosystem remains precarious, celebrated by voters outside traditional Congress circles but viewed with scepticism by the party’s leadership.
Tharoor’s cosmopolitan persona, intellectual flair, and ability to connect with non-traditional Congress supporters have ensured his consistent victories.
His appeal cuts across political loyalties, attracting those who may have little love for the Congress but admire Tharoor, the man.
Tharoor’s outreach to religious and community groups has further solidified his urban support base, particularly in Thiruvananthapuram city.
Yet, within the Congress party in Kerala, Tharoor remains something of a misfit.
“He neither belongs to any faction nor has grassroots organisational experience in Kerala politics, which thrives on group loyalties and ground-level mobilisation,” a senior KPCC leader summed up the dilemma.
Though Tharoor has, on occasions, hinted at ambitions in state politics, even expressing a desire to one day become chief minister, his path is strewn with obstacles.
In a party crammed with established state leaders and faction chiefs, an “outsider” like Tharoor faces an uphill task.
Recent controversies have further complicated matters. His public praise for the LDF government’s startup and industrial policies drew sharp criticism from within the Congress, with party mouthpiece Veekshanam even accusing him of demoralising party workers ahead of the local body elections.
Shashi Tharoor with
VD Satheesan and Shafi Parambil.
State opposition leader VD Satheesan and senior leader Ramesh Chennithala publicly contradicted him, laying bare the internal disapproval.
Tharoor’s occasional kind words for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar have only added to the perception of him being ideologically unpredictable — a trait traditional Congress loyalists find hard to digest.
“While Tharoor remains popular in Thiruvananthapuram city, his acceptability in Kerala’s rural heartland is limited. His shrinking victory margin tells its own story,” pointed out a Congress leader from Kottayam.
Indeed, his winning margins have fluctuated dramatically: From a massive 99,998 votes in 2009 to a slender 16,077 in 2024.
Local Congress office-bearers admit that while he remains a star attraction, his influence in coastal regions of the constituency, particularly after the Vizhinjam seaport project controversy, has diminished.
“Don’t know if he could become that X factor at the state level, but he still matters in Thiruvananthapuram. But whether he can swing votes across the seven assembly segments (Kazhakkoottam, Vattiyoorkavu, Thiruvananthapuram, Nemom, Parassala, Kovalam, and Neyyattinkara) and revive Congress fortunes in local body elections, most importantly Thiruvananthapuram Corporation (101 wards), is uncertain,” said a Thiruvananthapuram DCC functionary.
Political analyst NM Pearson, meanwhile, is candid in his assessment.
“Tharoor is not a mass leader in the conventional sense. He can sway niche urban pockets, but won’t be a decisive factor in local body or assembly elections. His interest largely remains national, and at best, he might serve as a star campaigner,” Pearson observed.
As one Congress leader puts it, “Tharoor enjoys a relatively cordial equation with former KPCC president K Sudhakaran. The real intrigue lies in how the new KPCC leadership, alongside party heavyweights like Opposition Leader VD Satheesan and senior leaders like Ramesh Chennithala, will script Tharoor’s role in the upcoming electoral battle.”
In the end, Tharoor remains both the Congress party’s brightest asset and its most unpredictable dilemma.
As Kerala braces for a season of hard-fought elections, the question is no longer about Tharoor’s charisma or crowd-pulling capacity. It’s about political utility.
Will the Congress risk sidelining a leader with national heft and urbane appeal at a time when it desperately needs every vote? Or will it continue treating him as an ornamental outlier, good for drawing applause but kept safely at arm’s length?
For now, the party seems content to leave Tharoor on his own.
With new subplots unfolding daily in the grand drama of state and national politics, the Congress leadership has decided to bide its time, keeping the ‘Tharoor card’ close to its chest, ready to play it when the moment is just right.
At the same time, Tharoor will also wait in the wings. What he’s waiting for and how he’ll strike is something only time can reveal.
Love him, distrust him, or dread him. In Kerala’s high-voltage political drama, the Shashi Tharoor factor is a subplot no one can afford to tune out.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
