'No one has to fear me,' says Tharoor after Cong leadership attempts to gag him

Congress leadership's unofficial order restraining its local units from hosting Shashi Tharoor's programmes in Malabar as part of his tour of Kerala has reportedly upset a section of the Youth Congress.

The Youth Congress, Kozhikode district committee, had invited the Thiruvananthapuram MP to talk on 'Sangh Parivar and challenges to secularism' on Sunday.

However, the Youth Congress had a change of mind at the eleventh hour and backed off from hosting the event. Instead, a cultural organisation affiliated with the party is expected to host Tharoor's event scheduled for 3.30 pm at KP Kesava Menon Hall.

Tharoor, meanwhile, has laughed off the development. "Whenever I'm in Kozhikode, the DCC invites me to a programme. I thought this was a similar invite. But from what I understand, they had some inconvenience, but I don't have a problem with that. My schedule in Kozhikode is full anyway," Tharoor told mediapersons on arrival in the city late on Saturday.

On whether his rise in the party could be worrying someone, Tharoor said: "I don't fear anyone and I don't think anyone should fear me either."

Tharoor did not have the backing of the senior leadership in the party when he contested for the Congress president's post last month.

Leader of Opposition, VD Satheesan, was among those that publicly supported his rival, Mallikarjun Kharge, to whom Tharoor lost by 6,825 votes. However, he secured 1,072 votes to the amusement of many in the party.

'It was avoidable'
It is understood that a section of the Youth Congress is upset. Manorama News reported that the North and South units of the Kozhikode Youth Congress had expressed willingness to host the event.

While the district leadership of the Youth Congress has yet to react, the organisation's state vice president and former MLA, KS Sabarinadhan has expressed his disappointment.

"A speech delivered by Rahul Gandhi in Maharashtra against Savarkar as part of the Bharat Jodo Yatra has excited the party. Then why such an action here? Wouldn't Shashi Tharoor, a three-time MP of the party, have delivered a similar message? How significant that would have been for Congress," Sabarinadhan wrote in his Facebook page.

Tharoor to meet MT
Kozhikode MP, MK Raghavan, one of the few senior Congressmen that had backed Tharoor's candidacy, received him in the city on Saturday evening.

It is understood that Tharoor will begin his series of programmes in Malabar by visiting acclaimed writer MT Vasudevan Nair.