In a major setback for the Congress, and to his own embarrassment, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s relatives have joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. Sobhana Sasikumar, who happens to be Tharoor’s aunt, along with her husband Sasikumar and 12 other politicians, have been officially inducted into the party, as confirmed by the state BJP President, PS Sreedharan Pillai.
As reported by the news agency IANS, Sobhana Sasikumar and her husband joined the party, where they were warmly welcomed by Mr. Pillai. Interestingly, this was a decision taken in the heat of the moment. The couple had been closely following the party for leaders, and were quite impressed by the ideology.
For those unaware, Shashi Tharoor is an ex foreign diplomat who narrowly lost the elections of UN secretary-general to Ban ki Moon in 2006. He was soon inducted into the Congress, and was rewarded with a ministry when the UPA was re-elected to power in 2009. He was re-elected as an MP from Thiruvananthapuram, despite Congress having been evicted from power in 2014.
Now reports have come that ex Mizoram governor and veteran Kerala BJP leader Kummanam Rajasekharan may himself contest the upcoming polls against Tharoor. To make matters worse, his own relatives have ditched his ideology and have joined the BJP. In a similar case, Sujay Vikhe Patil, son of the leader of opposition in Maharashtra assembly, Radha Krishna Vikhe Patil, joined BJP after being denied a ticket from his family stronghold of Ahmednagar constituency.
This is clearly not good news for the Congress. Hardly had they recovered from the shock of their trusted member and Sonia Gandhi’s aide, Tom Vadakkan, when the news of Shashi Tharoor’s relatives joining BJP emerged. Tom Vadakkan, an influential leader in Kerala Congress, had resigned from the party, because his party was mocking the sentiments of the masses with their attitude after the Pulwama attack.
To quote him, “I left Congress party because when Pakistani terrorists attacked our land, my party’s reaction to it was sad, it hurt me deeply. If a political party takes such a position that is against the country then I’m left with no option but to leave the party. The Rahul Gandhi-led party has developed a culture of use and throw.”
To be honest, the tables seem to have turned drastically on the Congress. With sitting MLAs defecting to the BJP in Gujarat, Telangana etc and now even their trusted aides deserting them as is the case with Tharoor, it would be interesting to see how low the party members stoop in order to cater to the whims and fancies of their current boss.