‘He can explain’: Congress diverts row on Shashi Tharoor map error, apologizes

New Delhi:

The Congress has distanced itself from Shashi Tharoor for using the wrong map of India in his manifesto for the poll of the party chairman. Tharoor later apologized and issued corrected versions, saying “nobody does such a thing on purpose”.

Before the apology, the party’s communications officer, Jairam Ramesh, called the wrong map (parts of Jammu and Kahsmir, and Ladakh were missing) an “egregious mistake”, putting the onus on Tharoor and his team for the explanation. He was responding to a tweet from BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya juxtaposing Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ (Unite India March) with Tharoor’s alleged ‘dismemberment’ of the country.

“The ‘I Troll Cell’ of the BJP will look for any flimsy excuse to target and tarnish Bharat Jodo Yatra and Rahul Gandhi,” Jairam Ramesh said in his tweet.

The BJP is clearly panicking now that the Bharat Jodo Yatra has entered Karnataka. The BJP “I Troll Cell” (TI Cell) will look for any flimsy excuse to target and tarnish the #BharatJodoYatra Y @RahulGandhi. Only Dr. Tharoor and his team can explain this egregious mistake. pic.twitter.com/3GMYj19js3

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) September 30, 2022

Tharoor said in a tweet about an hour later: “A small team of volunteers made a mistake. We immediately rectified it and I wholeheartedly apologize for the mistake.”

Regarding the storm of trolls in a manifest map: nobody does those things on purpose. A small team of volunteers made a mistake. We rectified it immediately and I wholeheartedly apologize for the mistake. Here is the manifest:
English: https://t.co/aKPpji9Z8M
Hindi: https://t.co/7tnkY9kTiO

—Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) September 30, 2022

Gandhi-backed Mallikarjun Kharge’s main opponent for the party leadership, Shashi Tharoor was among 23 leaders who had written to interim leader Sonia Gandhi seeking reforms in the party and its leadership system. However, he has emphasized that he is not a ‘G-23’ candidate, some of whose members have left the party while others have backed Kharge.

Mr. Tharoor, a former union minister who also faced a pamphlet map row in 2019, filed his nomination papers today and issued the manifesto, as well as a video on Twitter, where he has more than 80 lakh followers.

I just filed my nomination papers as a candidate for the presidential election of @incindia. It is a privilege to serve the only party in India with an open democratic process to elect its leader. I greatly appreciate Soniaji’s guidance and vision.#ThinkTomorrowTharoorpic.twitter.com/4HM4Xq3XIO

—Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) September 30, 2022

The vote is on October 17 and the results are two days later, in the first polls of heads of Congress in more than 20 years without a Gandhi in the race.

Rahul Gandhi, who held the post from 2017-2019 before resigning after a drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls, turned down the contest requests, apparently hoping that having a non-Gandhi boss would help the party counter the accusation of nepotism.

However, he remains the pre-eminent face of the party, evident by his leadership in the Kanyakumari-to-Kashmir Yatra.