Amid speculations over where Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's political allegiance lies, the leader from Kerala skipped a crucial meeting chaired by former Congress MP Sonia Gandhi. The meeting was to chalk out the Opposition's strategy for Parliament's winter session, which began on Monday.
However, Tharoor put to rest the speculations with a simple explanation: "flight mode". Reporters probed Tharoor at Parliament premises about skipping the meeting, and Tharoor said, "I did not skip it, I was on a plane, coming from Kerala."
#WATCH | #ParliamentWinterSession | Delhi | On not attending the Congress Parliamentary Strategy Group meeting yesterday, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor says, "... I did not skip it, I was on a plane, coming from Kerala..." pic.twitter.com/FnZrV9VdQu
— ANI (@ANI) December 1, 2025
Tharoor, a member of the Congress Working Committee, has been at loggerheads with Congress leadership recently, with his open praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi on several issues. Tharoor took a stand different from the party on several issues in the recent past. Even on Operation Sindoor, while the Congress-led Opposition questioned the Modi government's claims, Tharoor, who also led one of the Centre's outreach delegations, backed Modi's claims.
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Recently, attending Malayala Manorama's Horthus festival in Kochi, Tharoor clarified he has no intention to leave the Congress party. "I have been working sincerely for the Congress for 16 years. I am currently a Congress MP, and I have heard the question of whether I would leave the party a hundred times. But let me say it straight, I have not even moved a finger to leave the party. Nobody has even asked me to leave the party,” Tharoor said during one of the sessions, OnManorama reported.
During the conversation, when asked about his relationship with the Congress leadership, Tharoor was measured. “I don’t dare to say I am part of the leadership now because I have not been given such roles. I am a working committee member, but I don’t know if that has the standing of a leader. But I am a Congress MP. If the party needs me, let them say so,” he said.
