Lots and lotus of excitement in Thiruvananthapuram

SHASHI Tharoor was on his first visit to Thiruvananthapuram after his candidature was announced for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

- CITHARA PAUL

There was nobody from the Congress to receive him at the airport-not even a single party worker. But, then, Tharoor wouldn't have bothered much. He had already won thrice on his own merit and charisma.

The local Congress leadership had always cold-shouldered this diplomat turned-politician. So much so, Tharoor had to complain to the national leaders to get the party machinery running. Yet, he managed to win even when he was under a cloud of suspicion after the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Tharoor seems to have created a vote bank for himself. Most of the voters were proud to have a 'global citizen' representing them. It is the same affinity for 'VIPs' that saw the constituency send the likes of V K Krishna Menon, K Karunakaran and M N Govindan Nair to Parliament earlier. In Thiruvananthapuram, personalities seem to matter more than politics.

This time, Tharoor has an equally high-profile opponent: Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union minister of state for Electronics and IT. If Tharoor is a prolific writer and orator, Chandrasekhar is a successful techie and an entrepreneur to boot. If Tharoor has the gift of the gab, Chandrasekhar is known as a man of action. If the former appears debonair, the latter exudes the air of someone who means business.