Who Is Shashi Tharoor? 3-Time Congress MP Challenged By BJP In Thiruvananthapuram

A former international civil servant-turned politician, Shashi Tharoor is a third-term Lok Sabha MP representing the Thiruvananthapuram constituency of Kerala. The Congress leader will contest again from the seat for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Tharoor, 68, is lodged in a three-way contest against BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar and LDF candidate Pannyan Raveendran in Thiruvananthapuram seat. The Congress leader, however, believes that only the BJP poses a challenge to him with its "energetic" and "professional" poll campaign. The LDF campaign for its candidate Pannian Raveendran has not been very impactful, Tharoor remarked.

Tharoor has previously served as Minister of State for Human Resource Development and Minister of State for External Affairs in the UPA government under Manmohan Singh.

Between his stints as a minister, Tharoor also served as Member-Convenor of the Parliamentary Forum on Disaster Management, and as a member of the Standing Committee on External Affairs; the Consultative Committee on Defence, the Public Accounts Committee; and the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Telecoms. He has participated prominently in many of the most important debates of the 15th Lok Sabha in India, and in his current second term sits in the Opposition benches, also serving as the Chairman of the Standing Committee on External Affairs and a member of the Standing Committee on Rules.

Shashi Tharoor was one of the first politicians to use social media to connect with the public. Till 2013 he was India's most-followed politician on X (then Twitter), until current Prime Minister Narendra Modi overtook him on the platform. He was the first Indian leader to reach 10,000 and 100,000 followers on the medium, and currently has 8.4 million followers.

Tharoor is also an award-winning author of works of both fiction as well as non-fiction, including The Great Indian Novel, India: From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond, Why I am a Hindu, to name a few.

Tharoor, who started writing at the age of six, has written over 20 books based and centered on India and its history, culture, politics, and society, so far.

The 68-year-old has also written hundreds of articles, op-eds, and book reviews in a wide range of publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times. He has served for two years as a Contributing Editor and occasional columnist for Newsweek International.

Three-decade Stint At UN

During his nearly three-decade long career at the United Nations, he served as a peacekeeper, refugee worker, and administrator at the highest levels, serving as Under-Secretary General during Kofi Annan's leadership of the organisation.

Born in London in 1956, Shashi Tharoor was educated in India and the United States, completing a PhD in 1978 at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. While there, he received the Robert B. Stewart Prize for Best Student. He also served as the first Editor of the Fletcher Forum of International Affairs.

Tharoor's late wife, Sunanda P Tharoor (formerly Sunanda Pushkar) passed away in January 2014. He is the father of twin sons, Ishaan and Kanishk, and of Sunanda's son, Shiv. Tharoor resides in Thiruvananthapuram and in New Delhi.

In February this year, Shashi Tharoor was conferred France's highest civilian honour "Chevalier de la Legion d’honneur" for his tireless efforts to deepen Indo-French ties, commitment to international peace and cooperation, and as a long-standing friend of France.

In 2012 the King of Spain awarded him the Encomienda de la Real Order Espanola de Carlos III.

In 1998 the World Economic Forum in Davos named him a Global Leader of Tomorrow. He is also a recipient of several awards that include a Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, India's highest honour for overseas nationals.

The sitting Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram has declared assets worth Rs 55 crore. In his affidavit, Tharoor declared a total income of over Rs 4.32 crore in the financial year 2022-2023.

Giving details of his assets and liabilities in the affidavit filed along with his nomination papers, Tharoor said he has immovable assets of over Rs 49 crore that includes deposits of varying amounts in 19 bank accounts and investments in various bonds, debentures, mutual funds, among others, he has said in his affidavit.