Tharoor Vs Chandrasekhar: Congress' Thiruvananthapuram MP Accepts 'Challenge' To Debate With BJP Candidate

Union Minister and BJP candidate Rajeev Chandrasekhar with Congress candidate Shashi Tharoor. (Image: PTI)

Congress’ three-time Thiruvananthapuram MP, who’s also renominated for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections by the party, Shashi Tharoor, accepted Union Minister and BJP candidate Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s ‘challenge’ for an open debate.

He also took a swipe at the saffron camp saying that Thiruvananthapuram people are aware of who has been evading a debate till now.

In a post on X, Tharoor wrote, “Yes, I welcome a debate. But the people of Thiruvananthapuram are aware of who has been evading a debate till now. Let us debate politics and development.”

“Let us debate price hike, unemployment, corruption, communalism and the BJP’s 10 years of propagating politics of hatred,” the post further read. He also asked to discuss the development of this district of Kerala and the “visible progress we have made in last 15 years”.

The Congress MP shared a video of Chandrasekhar speaking to local media in the region.

In the video, the Union Minister can be heard saying, “I am ready to debate over ideas, development, whose performance track record is better. I have been saying this since the start.”

Communist Party of India (CPI) veteran Pannyan Raveendran will stand opposite BJP’s Chandrasekhar and Congress’ Tharoor in the constituency.

Chandrasekhar’s Rajya Sabha term came to an end on April 2 and he was among the Union ministers who did not seek re-election. He expressed eagerness to participate in his first Lok Sabha polls, anticipating a refreshing phase in his political journey.

The Union minister’s parliamentary journey began in May 2006, when he was elected to the Rajya Sabha as a representative of Karnataka.

Tharoor, meanwhile, an author and a former international civil servant, had his electoral debut in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls from this — Thiruvananthapuram — seat in Kerala. He continued to retain it in the next two terms — 2014 and 2019 — as well.

Currently the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, Tharoor has previously served as Minister of State for Human Resource Development and Minister of State for External Affairs in the Government of India.

Voting on all the 20 segments of Kerala will take place on April 26, which will fall under second of the 7-phase general elections. The counting for all the 543 seats of the Lok Sabha will take place on June 4.