tharoor-sees-rahul-gandhi-as-the-lop

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday hailed Rahul Gandhi as “the man of the match” of the Lok Sabha polls and said it would only be fitting that he takes on the mantle of the Leader of Opposition in the house.

 

In an interview, after his fourth-straight Lok Sabha polls victory, Tharoor said the message of the mandate was that the electorate have given a “comeuppance” to the BJP’s “overweening arrogance” and its “my way or the high way attitude”.

 

“It will be a challenge for (Narendra) Modi and Amit Shah who have not been used to consulting very much in running their government and I think this is going to test their ability to change their way of functioning and be more accommodative and more conciliatory within the government and also I hope with the opposition,” Tharoor said on the incoming coalition government of the NDA.

 

The former Union minister said this time the Modi-led NDA government could prove to be a ‘majboor sarkaar’ (helpless government) on some issues because the parties that are part of the NDA will have to agree on everything.

 

“Already we have questions being raised by one party on the Agniveer scheme, saying that it needs to be reviewed and they have been supported by a second party namely the Janata Dal(United) and Chirag Paswan. Both in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, there are leaders who have demanded special category status for their states which the BJP government had hitherto refused to grant, that will have to be re-examined,” he said.

 

Tharoor said suddenly now there will have to be a more consensual model governance coming up.

 

He accused the Modi government of treating Parliament like a notice board in the last 10 years and expecting it to be a rubber stamp for all their decisions which, he said, was not viable now with a robust opposition of more than 230 MPs.

 

Batting for Rahul Gandhi to take on the mantle of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Tharoor said the former Congress president was unquestionably the star of this Lok Sabha performance.

 

“He and Congress president (Mallikarjun) Kharge campaigned extensively throughout the country, but Kharge is in the Rajya Sabha where he leads the Opposition and it would only be fitting that Rahul Gandhi does the same in the Lok Sabha. I have certainly conveyed my view both publicly and privately in that regard,” Tharoor said.

 

“I think we have a strong number now to stand up to the government and it (Leader of Opposition) should be a leader who is undoubtedly the most popular in the party,” he said, referring to Gandhi.

 

Using cricketing analogies, Tharoor further said Gandhi was “unquestionably, indeed the man of the match” of the polls and in a number of places the Congress “hit the ball out of the park”.