Shashi Tharoor mocks Kerala Congress leaders, says "a Nair can't stand a Nair"

Thiruvananthapuram: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday took a dig at Kerala Congress leaders and said a Nair cannot stand another from the same community. He has been aiming at a bigger role in Kerala politics but has been facing resistance.

He was in Changanassery, Kottayam inaugurating the 146th Mannam Jayanti, which is held to celebrate the birth anniversary of the founder of the Nair Service Society (NSS), Mannath Padmanabhan. Speaking at the event, he said things weren't easy in the founding days of NSS and Mannan used to say it is difficult to organise Nairs. "He observed that one Nair cannot acknowledge another Nair. He stated it 100 years back. But in politics, I often see that," reported The Indian Express.

Prominent Kerala Congress leaders including AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, Kerala Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan, and former Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala have been criticising Tharoor. Tharoor's rising popularity at the national level is considered to be a threat by many in Kerala. NSS has been a powerful supporter of the Congress and Tharoor's presence at the event is a sign of his raised profile following the election for Congress national presidency.

NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair said Tharoor is "a global citizen" and "Kerala's son". "There is no one as eligible as Tharoor to inaugurate the Mannam Jayanti. In 2009, when he came to contest the Lok Sabha election from Thiruvananthapuram, I called him a ‘Delhi Nair’. He was invited to the Mannam Jayanti celebrations to rectify that mistake. He is not a ‘Delhi Nair’. He is Kerala’s son as well as a global citizen."