Thiruvananthapuram: Shashi Tharoor was on his first visit to the constituency after announcing his candidature for the 2024 general elections. He had just arrived at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport. But apart from a few TV journalists and camera crew, there was no one to welcome him. Not a single Congress worker was around. No banners or placards to welcome him.
But then Tharoor would not care much about it. Because, on the basis of his ability and charisma, he had won Thiruvananthapuram thrice before.
The local Congress leadership has always shown indifference towards this diplomat-turned-politician.
In fact, Tharoor had to complain to the national leadership to run the party machinery. Nevertheless, he managed to win – even when he was under suspicion following the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Over time, Tharoor created a niche vote bank for himself. Most voters in Thiruvananthapuram were proud that the constituency was being represented by a ‘global citizen’. It is this same attraction towards ‘VIPs’ that has led the Kerala capital to elect people like VK Krishna Menon, K Karunakaran and MN Govindan Nair to Parliament in the past. In Thiruvananthapuram, personality matters as much as – perhaps even more than – politics.
But this time, Tharoor faces an equally high-profile rival: Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajiv Chandrashekhar. If Tharoor is a prolific writer and speaker, Chandrashekhar is a successful technocrat and entrepreneur. If Tharoor has the gift of the gab, Chandrashekhar is known as a man of action. If Tharoor appears brazen, Chandrashekhar projects the image of a man who means business.
Tharoor and Chandrashekhar are competing primarily for the same vote bank – the upper class, the upper caste, the youth and the aspirational middle class. This vote bank is important in Thiruvananthapuram – unlike elsewhere in Kerala – as it has 72% urban voters.
