What Shashi Tharoor said after NCP leader's 'warm invite' to party

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Kerala president PC Chacko on Monday offered Congress MP Shashi Tharoor to join his party. Speaking to reporters in the Kannur district, Chacko said that Tharoor will “remain as Thiruvananthapuram MP even if the Congress party rejects him.” PC Chacko's comments come amid reports of Kerala Congress being 'displeased' with Tharoor's Malabar tour.

“If Congress MP Shashi Tharoor comes to the NCP, we will accept him warmly. Shashi Tharoor will remain as Thiruvananthapuram MP even if the Congress party rejects him. I do not know why Congress is ignoring Tharoor,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. In response to this, Tharoor confirmed that he is “not going to NCP”.

"I need to be welcomed if I am going there. I am not going to the NCP. Such matters were not discussed with PC Chacko," the Congress MP told the media on Monday.

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Two weeks ago, Tharoor's four-day tour in Malabar appeared to have rattled a significant section of Congress in Kerala with a few of them sensing an "agenda" behind his move. According to some of his opponents in the party, the Congress MP was “trying to position himself as an ideal chief ministerial candidate of the Congress-led UDF for the 2026 Assembly polls to end the rule of the CPI(M)-led LDF in the state.”

“I do not fear anyone and there is no need for anyone to be afraid of me,” Tharoor had responded to the party. He had also mentioned that he is “not interested in creating any group within the state Congress.”

(With inputs from ANI)