Shashi Tharoor's Kerala Tour Upsets Indian Congress

India's main opposition party may have officially denied sidelining Shashi Tharoor, but it appears to be unhappy with the parliamentarian's latest moves.

Shashi Tharoor's ongoing visit to Kerala has revealed rifts gripping the Congress party in the state after its top politicians, including the Leader of the Opposition in the assembly, V D Satheesan, slammed the MP for running "parallel" activities in the coastal state in India's south.

"The Congress in Kerala is not at all healthy to afford any more parallel activities...after suffering two drubbings in the assembly polls, the party is on a comeback mode in the state. Everybody is working as a team now. At this time, no one will be allowed to do any parallel activities," Satheesan told reporters in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.

When Tharoor was informed about Satheesan's remarks, he responded that Congress politicians shouldn't be wary of his intentions.

"I do not fear anyone and there is no need for anyone to be afraid of me," Tharoor said.

Relations between Tharoor and the party appear to be frosty at this stage, after the politician hurled accusations of bias during last month's Congress' presidential polls.

Being one of the two candidates in the party chief's elections, Tharoor was defeated by Mallikarjun Kharge, a loyalist of the powerful Gandhi family -- Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi. Earlier this month, he was also dropped from the list of Congress campaigners for next month's elections in Gujarat.

Interestingly, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Kharge will campaign extensively in Gujarat, Tharoor despite being known for his oratory skills found no mention among the party's top leaders who will address rallies in the state.

The Congress politician said the development was a major "disappointment" for him.

Coming back to the controversy surrounding his tour to his home state of Kerala, it is being reported that Tharoor is projecting himself as the Congress' State Chief candidate for the state assembly elections scheduled for 2026.

Congress has been out of power in Kerala since 2016 after losing back-to-back polls to the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front coalition in the state.

Meanwhile, Tharoor is an extremely popular Congress politician in Kerala, having won three consecutive elections from Thiruvananthapuram parliamentary constituency in the state.