New Delhi, May 26 (IANS) Famed author and senior Congress MP, Shashi Tharoor, set off fresh political chatter with a warm and politically-loaded social media post after meeting bibliophile Kerala Chief Minister, V.D. Satheesan, in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Calling it a ‘wonderful hour-long conversation’, Tharoor said he held extensive discussions with the Chief Minister on Kerala’s development road map and assured his fullest cooperation in efforts to build a transformed Keralam.

The post instantly became a major talking point in Congress circles as it came during Satheesan’s first official Delhi visit as Chief Minister, where he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union ministers seeking support for Kerala’s development projects and financial revival.

“A wonderful hour-long conversation with Kerala Chief Minister, V.D. Satheesan today in Delhi. We discussed the way forward for our state’s development in extensive detail,” Tharoor wrote.

He added that Chief Minister Satheesan had sought his policy inputs and assistance in several sectors and that he had readily agreed to extend support. What gave the post an added personal touch was Tharoor’s reference to gifting Chief Minister Satheesan his latest book on Sree Narayana Guru.

“Since he is a tireless reader, I presented to him my most recent work on Sree Narayana Guru, he agreed with me that a book is always better than a bouquet,” he wrote.

Political observers note that Tharoor has always occupied a distinct space within the Congress, both in Kerala and in Delhi.

Despite being a four-time Lok Sabha MP from the prestigious Thiruvananthapuram constituency, Tharoor’s cosmopolitan image, independent articulation and style of functioning often kept him somewhat removed from the traditional Congress power circles in Kerala.

For years, sections of the old guard within the party viewed him as an outsider to the conventional state leadership structure.

Even in Delhi, his equation with the Congress high command had seen phases of visible strain.

But with relations between Tharoor and the party leadership improving considerably in recent months, the MP is now seen operating from a far stronger political pedestal than before.

Against that backdrop, his open endorsement of Satheesan and the warm public messaging from Delhi have now added a fresh political dimension to the evolving equations within the Congress in Kerala.

–IANS

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