Tharoor vs Chandrashekhar? Possibility of fierce election battle in Thiruvananthapuram

Although Congress has not yet announced its candidate from the constituency, if they field Tharoor again, it will be one of the high-profile contests in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2024.

Fielding Chandrashekhar is part of the BJP’s aim to make inroads in Kerala, where it had failed to win any seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In his recent visit to Kerala, Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about the target of achieving double-digit figures in the state in the upcoming Lok Sabha 2024 elections.

Union Minister of State for Information Technology and Skill Development Chandrashekhar is a three-time Rajya Sabha member and will contest the Lok Sabha elections for the first time. Former Union Minister of State for External Affairs Tharoor has won this seat thrice since 2009.

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Chandrashekhar, 59, comes from a tech background, having worked at Intel, founded BPL Mobile and later sold his stake for US$1.1 billion. Apart from being a politician, 67-year-old Tharoor is a former international civil servant, a writer and a public intellectual.

not born in kerala

Chandrashekhar and Tharoor are from Kerala, yet neither of them were born there. Chandrashekhar was born to Malayali parents in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. His ancestral home is in Kondayoor, Thrissur district of Kerala. Tharoor was born in London, United Kingdom to Chandran Tharoor and Sulekha Menon, a Malayali couple from Palakkad, Kerala.

After completing Electrical Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology, Chandrashekhar pursued Master’s in Computer Science from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. He joined Intel in 1988. In 1991, Chandrashekhar returned to India and joined his father-in-law’s company, BPL Group. He founded BPL Mobile in 1994. However, in 2005, he sold his 64 percent stake in BPL Communications to Essar Group for US$1.1 billion. In 2005, Chandrashekhar founded Jupiter Capital with an initial investment of US$100 million.

Tharoor studied at Montfort School in Yercaud near Salem in Tamil Nadu and Campion School in Mumbai. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi. Tharoor received a master’s degree in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University in Medford, United States. He also has a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy and a PhD in International Relations and Affairs.

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Tharoor’s career at the United Nations began in 1978 as a staff member of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva. Tharoor resigned from the post of Under Secretary General in April 2007. In 2006, the Central Government nominated Tharoor for the post of United Nations Secretary General. Tharoor finished second behind South Korea’s Ban Ki-moon.

political trip

Chandrashekhar started his parliamentary career in 2006 as an independent member of the Rajya Sabha, representing Karnataka. In 2018, he was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha for a third term as a BJP member.

Chandrashekhar became Minister of State after the cabinet reshuffle in the second Narendra Modi government in July 2021. He has been a prominent voice in the Narendra Modi government and is also present at the BJP headquarters during the induction of new leaders into the party.

Tharoor contested his first Lok Sabha election in 2009 from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He had won by a margin of about 1 lakh votes. In 2014, when Tharoor was facing off against veteran BJP leader O Rajagopal, the victory margin came down to 15,470 votes. In 2019, Tharoor once again defeated BJP candidate Kummanam Rajasekharan.

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Tharoor was the country’s most followed politician on X (formerly Twitter) until 2013, when he was overtaken by then BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. Tharoor has been the Minister of State for External Affairs and Human Resource Development (now Education) in the UPA government under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In 2022, Tharoor lost the election for the post of Congress President to Mallikarjun Kharge.

In December last year, Tharoor had hinted that the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections could be his last fight from the Thiruvananthapuram seat. The Congress party has not yet announced its candidates.

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Published: 05 March 2024, 01:10 PM IST