“Not anybody’s B team, we are A Team of Kerala”: Shashi Tharoor

Speaking with ANI, the Congress MP said that he is optimistic, stating, “Don’t forget that the BJP is zero seat party in Kerala. The real contest between UDF and LDF. We have good candidates and experience candidate as well as some fresh faces. People are tired of misgovernance by the LDF, and the BJP is not the answer because they don’t have any capacity. Basically, they got zero seats in the assembly, and if they get one, two or three, they will claim a big victory.”

Emphasising that the electorate wants a new democratic government, he said, “People want positive-minded, new and fresh governance, which is the vision of Kerala. This is my only message. Congress party is gonna win 85 to 100 seats in the state of Keralam.”Dismissing the ‘B team’ controversy, Tharoor said, “This is totally silly. We are not interested in anybody’s B team because we are the A-Team of Kerala. BJP and LDF, they both don’t want the Congress party to come to power in the state. Our deal is with the people of Kerala, and we will ensure that the people of Kerala and their interests will be safe with us.”

Extending his support to the Women’s Reservation Bill, he cited the difficulties women face in politics to breathrough. “Even in elections, no party has given women a significant percentage of the seats. We have only 10%, BJP have 11%. We are not looking for a very significant number of women. So we need to have a reservation bill so that we can give women guaranteed opportunities,” he said.Clarifying the pro-BJP statement controversy surrounding him, he denied that he ever made a pro-BJP statement but rather a pro-India statement. “I am a strong critic of the BJP and especially of communalism, and I really believe this is against interest of the country, but as a responsible citizen of India, I often speak of the national interest,” he added.

When asked about the Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s recent criticism against the Centre and Prime Minister Modi, he said that the present situation does not reflect well on us.

The MP said, “It is so embarrassing for us. One of the reasons I supported the government’s restraint and silence on the Iran war was because of the hope of the government to use this to create a space for peace-making, and be the leading voice of peace, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi often says that india should be. But ironically, it is Pakistan. Apparently, there is the leading effort of Turkey and Egypt to do imitations, so I can’t be happy about that.”

The polling for the 2026 Kerala Legislative Assembly elections will be held in a single phase on April 9, with the counting of votes scheduled to take place on May 4. The tenure of the current assembly is scheduled to end on May 23.The Congress-led UDF seek to unseat the incumbent Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led LDF and gain control of the 140-member assembly. The LDF-led government has governed the state for around a decade.