Rahul Gandhi's 'Team Kerala' post shows leaders including Tharoor

New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi on Sunday claimed that the Congress leaders in Kerala ‘stand as one’, adding that they are ‘united by the light of purpose ahead’.

Opposition leader’s statement comes amid reports of infighting in the party after Shashi Tharoor’s glowing praise for the state and Central governments, according to NDTV.

Showcasing the harmony in the party, Rahul Gandhi posted an image of leaders from a press conference after their meeting with top leaders in Delhi on February 28.

Posted with the hashtag ‘Team Kerala’, the caption read: ‘They stand as one, united by the light of purpose ahead.’

Shashi Tharoor, who is at the centre of the row following his statements, is among the leaders in the picture.

Other leaders showed up for the meeting alongside Tharoor include Rahul Gandhi, party president Mallikarjun Kharge, general secretary K C Venugopal, Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Kerala unit president K Sudhakaran, and Leader of Opposition in Kerala Assembly VD Satheesan.

The three-hour long meeting was held following Tharoor's praise for PM Modi and LDF government alongside his warning to the party leadership that he had ‘other options’, if the party did not need his services.

At the meeting, Rahul Gandhi called for party leaders to focus on the political strategy, and directed them not to do or say anything against the party line.

It is reported that following his statements praising PM Modi an LDF government Tharoor was ‘unhappy about being sidelined in the party’, according to India Today.

Subsequently, Rahul Gandhi held a meeting with the Thiruvananthapuram MP, before speculations emerged that he was likely to switching sides which Tharoor rejected.

It was then CPIM leader Thomas Isaac expressed his party’s willingness to accept Tharoor saying that Tharoor ‘will not be an orphan in Kerala politics' if he leaves the Congress.