Thiruvananthapuram: Congress’s Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor has asserted that he was not as removed from the get together’s line as was typically portrayed.

The senior Congress chief has been receiving flak in current months for purportedly deviating from the get together’s official line in his remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP-led central authorities.

After the Congress’s two-day brainstorming camp in Wayanad earlier than the 2026 Kerala meeting polls, Shashi Tharoor informed the media that his speeches and questions in Parliament aligned with the Congress get together. However information studies on them, and particularly headlines, turned them controversial, he mentioned.

“I consider in freedom of the press. However when the media summarises a 1,000-word article right into a sentence, it loses nuance and element. When folks criticise it, they’re seeing simply the headlines,” Tharoor mentioned, blaming the media for publishing just a few sentences of his speeches, taking them out of context.

Tharoor said that his birthday want for L.Ok. Advani was a “small courtesy” proven to a 98-year-old man and shouldn’t be projected as extraordinary.

Tharoor additionally clarified that he didn’t reward Modi however merely quoted and shared opinions on a November 2025 speech delivered by the Prime Minister on the sixth Ramnath Goenka Lecture. The Congress chief had referred to as Modi’s speech each an “financial outlook” and a “cultural name to motion”, highlighting his deal with transitioning India from an “rising market” to an “rising mannequin” and ending post-colonial “slave mentality”.

Requested whether or not he’s taken with contesting the 2026 meeting elections, Tharoor skirted the query, saying that although some leaders had already expressed their curiosity, the ultimate resolution rested with the get together management. Nonetheless, he confirmed that he would stay lively in Kerala politics regardless of his parliamentary commitments.

Earlier within the day, movies from the Congress camp surfaced on social media, exhibiting Tharoor partaking and laughing with All India Congress Committee Common Secretary Ok.C. Venugopal, Kerala Chief of Opposition V.D. Satheesan, and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee President Sunny Joseph, amongst different senior leaders.

Tharoor’s newest statements and visuals assume significance in opposition to the backdrop of a number of of his remarks coming beneath hearth from throughout the Congress in current months.

In November 2025, Tharoor got here beneath heavy criticism after he wrote an article—Indian politics are a household enterprise—criticising the political management in India as a “birthright”. He named Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, together with examples from the Biju Janata Dal, the Akali Dal, and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

The Congress MP additionally raised eyebrows from throughout the get together and outdoors after he referred to as the BJP’s first-ever seize of the Thiruvananthapuram Company within the 2025 Kerala native physique polls a “historic efficiency” and a “important victory”.

On Monday, Tharoor mentioned he had been with the Congress for 17 years, so there must be no misunderstanding. He additionally declared that the get together would face the meeting elections this yr and win, unitedly.

The Congress has not but selected its candidates, however Tharoor mentioned he would stay lively this season, citing his marketing campaign throughout 56 constituencies throughout COVID-19 for example.

“Didn’t you see everybody partaking fortunately? I’ve been with the get together for 17 years, and there’s no want for sudden misunderstandings,” he mentioned. “Congress is a democratic get together. I stood for the AICC (All India Congress Committee) management, however misplaced. That’s it.”

(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)

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