Shashi Tharoor bats for Rahul Gandhi as Leader of Opposition, says he was ‘man of the match’ of Lok Sabha polls

New Delhi, June 7

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 be fitting that he takes on the mantle of the Leader of Opposition in the Lower 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 BJP’s “overweening arrogance” and its “my way or the high way attitude”.

“It will be a challenge for Mr (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’ 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 JD(U) 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 Mr 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,” the Congress Working Committee member 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”.

Hailing the gains made by the Congress that improved its tally to 99 in the Lok Sabha, Tharoor said it was a very good performance and the leaders were very pleased that the numbers showed up according to “what we saw on the ground”.

“As for what we can improve, there is always room for improvement. Certainly we did not expect to lose every seat in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. Those are areas where there would need to be certain introspection within those state units as to what went wrong and headquarters will have to weigh-in as well,” he said.

Tharoor also dismissed comparisons between first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Modi for coming back to power for three consecutive terms.

“I don’t think there is any comparison with Nehru particularly since he won all three elections with a clear majority of his own party and this time around BJP did not get a majority, it had to rely on its allies which Nehru ji never had to…not quite the same story,” he said.

Tharoor also credited Gandhi’s two Bharat Jodo Yatras and its alliance strategies for the party’s performance.