The question of an alternative to PM Modi is irrelevant: Shashi Tharoor

New Delhi: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said people in India elect not an individual but a party or coalition of parties, quite unlike in the presidential system.

Tharoor said on social media that he was asked who could be the alternative to PM Modi, and added that the question is irrelevant in the parliamentary system.

‘Yet again a journalist has asked me to identify an individual who is the alternative to Mr Modi. The question is irrelevant in the Parliamentary system. We are not electing an individual (as in a presidential system), but a party, or coalition of parties, that represents a set of principles and convictions that are invaluable to preserve India's diversity, pluralism and inclusive growth, he wrote.

The Congress leader made it clear that the alternative to PM Modi is ‘a group of experienced, capable and diverse Indian leaders who will be responsive to people's problems and not driven by individual ego’.

Tharoor said that protecting India’s democracy and its diversity comes first and choosing a specific person to be Prime Minister is secondary.

In his fourth Lok Sabha contest in Thiruvananthapuram, Tharoor is taking on BJP leader and Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Left front candidate Pannyan Ravindran.

Thiruvananthapuram votes in the second phase of Lok Sabha polls, on April 26.