Tensions Rise as Shashi Tharoor Accepts Putin State Dinner Invitation While Congress Leaders Gandhi and Kharge Are Excluded

New Delhi:

Shashi Tharoor will attend Friday night's State dinner honoring Russian President Vladimir Putin, while Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge will not, according to party sources who spoke with NDTV this evening.

Congress MP Tharoor - whose relationship with his party has deteriorated over the past six months amid speculation about a potential switch to the BJP - confirmed his participation this evening, explaining that his invitation reflected the courtesy extended to the head of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Regarding the absence of invitations for Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the President of India's largest opposition party, Tharoor stated he was 'unaware of the process followed for invitations to State dinners'.

Later in the evening, another Congress leader, Pawan Khera, criticized Tharoor without naming him: "It is quite surprising an invitation was sent and accepted also. Everyone's conscience has a voice. When my leaders aren't invited... but I am... we should understand why the game is being played, who is playing the game, and why we shouldn't be part of it..."

The apparent exclusion of Gandhi and Kharge follows Gandhi's accusation just a day earlier that the government discourages meetings between visiting heads of state and opposition leaders.

Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Gandhi noted that tradition, including during BJP Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government, dictated that visiting heads of state meet with the Leader of the Opposition. "But these days... government suggests foreign leaders don't meet..."

Tharoor appeared to support Gandhi's complaint, saying: "... the LoP has made his point. I think the government should respond." In response, government sources denied making any such 'suggestion'.

This momentary show of support, however, is unlikely to resolve the tensions between Tharoor and the Congress.

The four-time Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha MP is reportedly on thin ice with the Congress following several recent comments praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, including remarks about his handling of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack and subsequent military actions against Pakistan.

Additionally, earlier this month, Tharoor wrote an article titled 'Indian Politics Are a Family Business,' offering strong criticism of family-led parties like the Congress, which was not well-received within the party.

In June, as tensions with Congress intensified, Tharoor clarified, "It (praise for the Prime Minister) is not a sign of my leaping to join his party... as some people have, unfortunately, been implying..."

The rift between Tharoor and the party has been growing steadily since mid-2022, when he participated in a group of Congress leaders who wrote to then-leader Sonia Gandhi requesting leadership changes following a series of electoral defeats, beginning with the 2019 federal election loss.

When asked by NDTV in June how he would define his current relationship with Congress, Tharoor emphasized his 16 years of loyalty to the party and its ideology.

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