"What Rahul Gandhi Meant...": Shashi Tharoor Clarifies Remark That Upset Allies

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor Monday played down Rahul Gandhi's comment on regional parties "lacking ideology", which has upset some regional allies at a time the party is planning to focus on alliances ahead of the 2024 national elections. Congress's Jharkhand ally Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Bihar ally Rashtriya Janata Dal have questioned the remark. Estranged ally HD Kumaraswamy, chief of the Janata Dal Secular, has made jibes at Mr Gandhi.

In his address on the concluding day at the three-day Congress "Chintan Shivir" in Rajasthan's Udaipur, Mr Gandhi had said: "The BJP will talk about Congress, will talk about Congress leaders, will talk about Congress workers, but will not talk about regional parties, because they know, that regional parties have their place, but they cannot defeat BJP. Because they don't have an ideology."

"I think what he (Rahul Gandhi) meant -- at least we all understood by what he meant -- was that we have a national vision. We speak for and think of the country as a whole. Whereas regional parties by its very character and nature is usually confined to one particular region or interest group," Mr Tharoor told NDTV in an exclusive interview.

Then he elucidated: "I think, for example, much of the ideology of Trinamool, the RJD, the Samajwadi Party or even for the most part the DMK, will be congruent to and compatible with what the Congress stands for".

The Rashtriya Janata Dal took a swipe at Mr Gandhi, calling his claims "bizarre". "I find it a little bizarre and out of sync," said RJD's Manoj Jha.

The Congress should settle to be "co-travellers" and let them (the regional parties) be in the "driving seat" in over 320 of the 543 parliamentary constituencies, Mr Jha added, inverting the formula given by election strategist Prashant Kishor for the rejuvenation of the grand old party.

Questioning "How are we running the party without any ideology," the JMM pointed out that it is the Congress that is dependent on regional parties for survival in the states.

JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy derided the Congress, saying the party has developed a "phobia" of regional parties. Rahul Gandhi, he said, should remember that the Congress ruled at the Centre for 10 years only with the help of regional parties.

The Congress's ally in Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin's DMK is yet to comment on the issue.