Shashi Tharoor’s ‘Pauline Epiphany’ Jibe After Congress Fields Sunil Sharma From Jaipur Seat

The Congress party has embroiled itself in an awkward moment with many of its party leaders questioning the decision to field Sunil Sharma, director of 'Jaipur Dialogues', from the Jaipur Lok Sabha seat.

Senior Congress Leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor shared an old post from 'Jaipur Dialogues' on Saturday, which mocked Rahul Gandhi and Tharoor in it, saying, "Sunil Sharma must have undergone "some sort of Pauline epiphany".

"He must have undergone some sort of Pauline epiphany on the road to 24 Akbar! This is just one of several dozen tweets from his handle attacking me," Tharoor stated on X, sharing a 2021 post from the Jaipur Dialogues handle that ridiculed both him and Rahul Gandhi.

It's worth noting that Jaipur Dialogues, a digital platform known for promoting far-right ideology, has previously made disparaging remarks against the Congress party.

However, Sunil Sharma, the director of the platform, appeared on Congress's third list of candidates released on Thursday.

Among the Rajasthan candidates are Kuldeep Indora from the Ganganagar constituency, Sangeeta Beniwal from Pali, Umeda Ram Beniwal from Barmer, and Urmila Jain Bhaya from the Jhalawar-Baran constituency. Meanwhile, Congress has allocated the Sikar constituency to its INDIA bloc partner, CPM.

Upon being selected by Congress for the Lok Sabha polls, Sunil Sharma expressed optimism about bringing change to Jaipur in the upcoming elections.

"Jaipur's failure to secure a spot among the top 25 clean cities in the country is distressing. If this trend continues, Jaipur may become uninhabitable. Therefore, the people of Jaipur desire change. I believe that this election will mark a significant turning point," he stated in an interview with news agency ANI.

Notably, the ruling BJP has yet to announce its candidate for the Jaipur constituency. The Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan are scheduled to take place in two phases, on April 19 and April 26.