Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday dismissed speculation about his possible candidature for the Kerala Chief Minister’s post, clarifying that he is not contesting the assembly elections and therefore cannot be considered for the role. The four-time Thiruvananthapuram MP emphasised that the CM should be picked from among the elected MLAs.
In an interview to news agency PTI, Tharoor described his role in the upcoming polls as a "mixed bag", noting that he plans to campaign extensively across the state. He added that he intends to travel from one end of Kerala to the other to support his party’s candidates.
"No and not (a CM probable) for all sorts of good reasons, including the fact that I am not a candidate and I think that ideally the CM should be picked from one of the elected MLAs," Shashi Tharoor said.
Tharoor expressed that Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) would be in a good position if they manage 85-100 seats in the 140-member Kerala assembly. He added that the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) was playing on "a sticky wicket" and the UDF was bowling "googlies".
On Rahul Gandhi’s recent visit to Kerala, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said, "He (Gandhi) said that 'Kerala dances are very attractive and I think all Kerala leaders need to dance together', which was I think was a good message to give and I think everyone is dancing together."
Tharoor also said that with elections becoming more and more presidential in nature, he personally favours projecting a probable CM face ahead of the polls, but in Kerala, the Congress has the ability to deliver results not around an individual face or a name but around an agenda, a mission and the party logo.