Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday sought to play down the raging controversy in the party's Kerala unit following his recent remarks.
Tharoor said his media interaction was about life and the pursuit of happiness.
“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.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP further said he would attend a party meeting scheduled for Friday.
Tharoor ruffled feathers in the Congress party after he wrote an article in an English daily, praising the industrial policy of the Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala.
Later, in a podcast interview to a newspaper, Tharoor said the Congress would have to sit in the opposition for the third consecutive term in Kerala if it did not try to expand its appeal.
He claimed that several party workers feel that there is an absence of a leader in Congress in the state.
Tharoor, a four-time MP from the state capital, even went on to add that if the Congress party did not need his services, he had "other options".
Tharoor backs Sudhakaran
Meanwhile, amid reports that the Congress high command is planning a revamp of the party in Kerala, Tharoor backed incumbent president K. Sudhakaran's continuation in the post.
The MP said under Sudhakaran's leadership, the party has secured significant victories and gained the upper hand.
"So, there is no meaning in the demand for changing the KPCC president," Tharoor said.