Shashi Tharoor Skips Rahul Gandhi's Meet With Congress MPs; 3rd Time In 3 Weeks

New Delhi: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor was absent from a meeting of the party’s Lok Sabha MPs chaired by Leader Of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Friday. This is the third time since late November that he has skipped key party discussions.

Reportedly, Tharoor had informed the leadership in advance, though the Congress chief whip claimed he was unaware of the reason for Tharoor's absence. Congress MP Manish Tewari was also absent from Friday’s meeting.

According to a post by journalist Runjhun Sharma, Tharror is currently in Russia.

On November 30, Tharoor missed a strategy meeting led by Sonia Gandhi. “I did not skip it; I was on a plane, coming from Kerala,” Tharror had said on December 1, after his absence drew attention within the party. Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, too, had skipped that meeting due to local body poll campaigning in Kerala.

On November 18, Tharoor had also missed the Congress discussion on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) issue earlier, citing ill health. However, a day before, Tharoor had attended a private event where the Prime Minister addressed. The Congress leadership has not officially commented on the matter.

Earlier in the month, he attented President's dinner scheduled in honour of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Notably, LoP Rahul Gandhi was not invited for the dinner.