This Article is From Aug 01, 2015

Shashi Tharoor Says Will Not 'Confirm or Deny' Letter to Sonia Gandhi

Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor

Thiruvananthapuram: A letter addressed to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi refers to partyman Shashi Tharoor being rebuked by her for leaking his comments about party matters to the media, denies he is guilty of that transgression, and claims that he served the party's interests "with sincerity and to best of my ability, while often feeling that this has neither been seen nor appreciated."

Copies of the unsigned letter, apparently an email, appeared last night. Mr Tharoor has refused to comment on whether they are authentic. "I am not going to say anything which can legitimise your line of enquiry by denying or confirming," Mr Tharoor told reporters on Friday in Thiruvananthapuram, his Lok Sabha constituency.

Mr Tharoor appeared on NDTV last week and denied that a day earlier, he had been sharply reprimanded at a Congress meeting by Mrs Gandhi who said "you always do this" when accusing him of letting the media know that he had disagreed with his party's strategy of obstructing Parliament to target the government.

The two-page note says, "Why on earth would I have spoken to the media to undermine myself and my standing within the party?"

The letter also claims that it is he who is the victim of stories being planted in the media, with some within the party benefitting from having his scolding reported.

The letter also refers to the murder investigation into the death, in January 2014, of Mr Tharoor's wife and the "ghoulish attention" of the media.

Mr Tharoor has run into repeated trouble with his party for praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He wrote recently for NDTV.com on that controversy.
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