"Nothing much about any political controversy...": Shashi Tharoor amid buzz over his remarks

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], February 26 (ANI): Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday said he has not understood the controversy over his remarks made last week, saying that it was a conversation about life and “nothing there much about any political controversy”.

“You all heard the podcast. What was the controversy about? I still haven't understood the controversy. Now that you have heard the whole podcast, can you tell me what your question is? I am happy to respond. It is a podcast, a 45-minute conversation about life and pursuits of happiness, nothing there much about any political controversy,” Tharoor told reporters.

He said that a party meeting has been scheduled for Friday, for which he will be present.

On Sunday, amidst reports that all is not well between him and the Congress following backlash from within the party on his apparent praise recently for Kerala Left Democratic Front (LDF) government's industrial policy and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Tharoor refused to comment further on the subject.

"No comments at all," said the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram as reporters accosted him at the New Delhi airport.

This follows an interview to the podcast for a leading newspaper published from New Delhi today in its English edition, in which he noted that if the Congress did not try to expand its appeal, it would be sitting in opposition for the third consecutive time in Kerala.

Further, he was cited as saying that "several workers feel that there is an absence of a leader in Kerala's Congress."

He also said that he was elected as MP four times from Thiruvananthapuram and that if the Congress did not need his services, he had "other options" including speaking tours and books.

Moreover, Tharoor shared a selfie with Union Minister Piyush Goyal and Britain’s Secretary of State Jonathan Reynolds, which intensified buzz surrounding his remarks regarding Congress. (ANI)