Opposition parties will come together eventually: Shashi Tharoor

Opposition parties against the saffron brigade will come together eventually, said Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, for they share the same goal of defeating the BJP. Tharoor was speaking at the launch event of his book 'Pride, Prejudice and Punditry' organized by the Prabha Khaitan Foundation.

The former union minister further mocked the NDA government at the Centre for its decision to observe 'Good Governance Week' from December 20-25. The "substance of good governance" is missing for the last seven years, he laughed. Politics of slogans and symbolism have, instead, replaced good governance. "Free voices are being stifled in the country presently," he said.

"My big problem with this government is that there is no good governance for 52 weeks of the year. So having good governance for just one week may not be enough. They (NDA) need to get their act together and serve the entire time of the year and not just once," he slammed.

"The problem with this government is that all these (Good Governance Week) are gestures, the politics of symbolism, the politics of slogans. What you need to see is the substance of good governance, which has been missing. All we have is politics of slogans and symbolism," he remarked.

As part of Good governance week, the Centre will launch a nationwide campaign on Monday for redressing public grievances and improvising service delivery. The ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions have also planned a series of programmes for the week.

"In politics, even one week is a very long time. So there is still two and a half years to go for the next Lok Sabha poll. We are hopeful that those who are speaking in different voices will come together to defeat BJP. The goal is to defeat not just the BJP but also its policies and politics," Tharoor said optimistically.