It's poster war in Congress in Kerala; Tharoor, the latest victim

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 23 (IANS) Taking the poster route to malign Congress leaders is the fashion in the Congress party in Kerala and the latest victim is dapper Congress Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor from Thiruvananthapuram.

Last week it was two time former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy who became a victim of posters expressing ire in the manner in which Chandy was playing his cards, at a time when the 14 district party chief's names were being shortlisted.

On Monday, posters appeared in the state capital against Tharoor and the ire was he was trying to project one of his former close aide for the post of the Thiruvananthapuram district party president.

And the poster read, why is he pushing for someone who has kept away from the Congress party for a long time.

Another poster read, if he is trying to go the way former top Congress leader P.C. Chacko went by ditching the party and joining the NCP.

Yet another poster was one that asked Tharoor to see that he looks for some other constituency if he wishes to contest for a fourth term.

All this happened at a time when Tharoor, just the other day got exonerated on all counts in the case of the unnatural death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar.

For all practical purposes, Tharoor in the Kerala unit of the party does not have much support from the grassroots, nor from the second or even the first rung of party leaders and his hat trick of victories to the Lok Sabha is owed to his personal glamour and standing that he has among the voters.

A media critic on condition of anonymity said if one looks back at the history of the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat, there is something which is different when voters cast their votes.

"Big names have won from here so have big names lost and at times even unknown candidates have won. Tharoor's victory in his debut election in 2009 shocked all, when he, fresh from the United Nations won with a margin of over 99,000 votes and had it not been for Tharoor, any other candidate would have lost in the 2014 polls which were held few months after his wife died. His margin came down to 15,000 votes. In the 2019 polls, he came back strongly with almost an identical winning margin as in 2009. The posters against Tharoor need not be taken seriously, as all knows, he is made of a different 'material'," said the critic.

All this is happening because anytime the party high command is expected to announce the 14 district party chiefs and in all likelihood, once the names are announced, the poster war could intensify as in Kerala, Congressmen just cannot keep away from washing dirty linen in public.