15 people support Tharoor, surprising the leadership

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The calculation of the state Congress leadership that Shashi Tharoor will not get the support of anyone in Kerala if he contests for the post of Congress president has fallen apart. 15 people from Kerala have signed Tharoor's nomination papers. Those who signed Tharoor's papers include MK Raghavan MP, former MLAs Thampanoor Ravi, KS Sabarinadhan and Kozhikode former DCC president KC Abu.

The KPCC leadership was surprised by the support extended by Youth Congress state vice-president Sabarinadhan. Sabarinadhan later came up with a Facebook post revealing the reasons for supporting Tharoor. Among the signatories, only Sabrinath responded publicly. Senior leaders claim that no one has been barred from signing the paper and that their final support will go to the candidate suggested by the leadership.

This is the first time that a Malayali is contesting for this post of Congress president since C. Shankaran Nair became the party president in 1897 at the Amaravati conference.

Sabarinadhan's Facebook post

'Ideology is the most important thing for a political party. No other Congress leader has articulated the visions of Gandhi, Nehru and Ambedkar so accurately for the 21st century. Shashi Tharoor's ability to communicate such politics to the people is seen as a positive factor. He offers a credible alternative to the communal politics promoted by Narendra Modi and the BJP. His secular stance will help him spearhead anti-BJP activities in India. It is believed that he will be able to unite various opposition political parties.

Any political movement can move forward only by taking into account the social and cultural changes occurring in the world. The party needs to be more inclusive of these changes. This can be done by Tharoor, who has a broad view of the world, studies every change accurately and updates himself in politics. He had never blamed the party for the ups and downs of his political career. Even when many people left the party for various reasons and faced some personal problems, he exercised freedom of speech by staying within the party. He is 100% a Congress man, albeit in a different way,' Sabarinadhan wrote.