FACING heat from within over his remarks praising the Kerala LDF government’s handling of the economy, senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has underlined the need for the party to expand its base to attract new voters and flagged the “absence of a leader in Kerala’s Congress”.He also said the fact that he had been elected four times as Thiruvananthapuram MP showed that the people supported his right to express his views independently regarding the development of the state and the country. He was available for the party, Tharoor said, but if the Congress did not need his services, he had “options”.Tharoor was speaking to The Indian Express on Varthamanam, a weekly Malayalam language podcast by ieMalayalam anchored by this reporter, launching on February 26.With the Congress facing successive Assembly poll defeats after gains in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Tharoor said the party needed to draw people from beyond its committed voter base, and said the support he personally got was an example.If the Congress did not try to expand its appeal, he said, it would be sitting in opposition for the third consecutive time in Kerala, which will see Assembly elections next year. “Both at the national and the state level, the Congress cannot win only with its committed vote base. It’s a reality. If you look at the national level, the Congress vote was around 19%. Would we be fine with our own vote base? Only if we get 26-27% additional can we come to power. So, we need those who have not backed us in the last two elections.”Talking about his own election, Tharoor said: “My appeal in Thiruvananthapuram is much more than what the party enjoys. People like the way I talk and behave. Even those who are generally against the Congress voted for me. That’s what we want in 2026.”He added that others in the Congress share his views, and have told him so. “Even Congress allies in the UDF have told me so,” Tharoor said on the podcast. “It’s not my responsibility, but I have pointed this out. Several workers feel there is an absence of a leader in Kerala’s Congress.”Story continues below this adAccording to Tharoor, opinion polls conducted by independent organisations have also shown that he was ahead of the others in leadership stakes in Kerala. “If the party wants to use that, I will be there for the party. If not, I have my own things to do. You should not think that I have no other option. I have my books, speeches, invitations from across the world to give a talk.”Tharoor pointed out that it was at the urging of senior Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Kerala party leader Ramesh Chennithala, that he had left a “comfortable” life in the US post a tenure in the United Nations to come back and join politics.On the controversy generated by his remarks, such as one praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the past and now the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government, Tharoor said he has always expressed his views fearlessly when it came to the betterment of the country and Kerala. “I don’t think like a politician. I have never had narrow political thoughts,” he said. “I have never thought about political implications before commenting on something I am convinced about. This is the reason I sometimes laud the good initiatives of governments or parties that are rivals to the Congress.”Acknowledging that many people don’t like this, saying “there is no space in our politics” for it, Tharoor said: “But I think that a majority of the people are not card-carrying party members. They have their own interests, leanings, but a majority of them are fair-minded people. They appreciate when a government does good things and criticise it for wrong steps. I have never seen a negative reaction to my remarks from the public. But it exists in the party. They ask me why you say good things about our rivals. Yes, they are our opponents, but when they do good things, we have to appreciate them.”Story continues below this adDenying rumours that he was considering switching parties, Tharoor said he does not believe in changing a party if one does not agree with certain things in it. “I don’t think it will be the right thing to do. One has the freedom to be outside the party, stay as an independent.” But, he quickly added: “What I see in today’s politics is that everyone wants a party or organisation to back you.”Tharoor also called for a strong organisational set-up within the Congress to carry forward its ideology and ideas, saying the BJP beats the party in this across states.Asked whether he felt sidelined within the party after his move to fight the presidential elections – taking on the undeclared official candidate Mallikarjun Kharge, who went on to win – Tharoor pointed out that the leadership had been gracious enough to make him a Congress Working Committee (CWC) member after that.However, he wondered at its effectiveness. “The working committee is a body of a hundred people. I have attended all the meetings after I was made a member. I have not seen it make any exclusive decision. There are a hundred people inside a room whenever we meet. It includes permanent invitees, special invitees, ex-officio members, general secretaries, in-charges… It’s like a big conference. Not a small committee. It’s not like the pictures we used to see of CWC meetings – a team sitting around a table or on the floor. It’s not like that now. So, not much has changed in my experience. But it’s a prestigious position inside the party.”