Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s article in a southern daily extolling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s energy, dynamism and global outreach coincided with the declaration of the Nilambur Assembly byelection result, where the Congress-led United Democratic Front won by a comfortable margin. Tharoor had stayed away from electioneering, alleging that he had not been invited to campaign. The victory of the Congress candidate may, however, have put paid to the Thiruvananthapuram MP’s chief ministerial ambitions. A resurgent Congress, under the leadership of VD Satheeshan, put up a united fight to wrest the seat from the CPI-M, giving the Grand Old Party hope that it will defeat the Left in next year’s Assembly elections. On winning the Thiruvananthapuram seat for the fourth time, after a seesaw battle with BJP candidate........

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