Senior Congress leader and Kozhikode MP MK Raghvan on Sunday said the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and the national leadership of the party should conduct an investigation into the incidents of the Youth Congress and the Kannur District Congress Committee (DCC) backing out from organising the seminars with Shashi Tharoor as the main speaker.

Speaking at a  seminar ‘Sangh Parivar and challenges to secularism’ organised by the Jawahar Youth Foundation, a Congress cultural organisation, in Kozhikode, Raghvan said that all of Shashi Tharoor’s programmes in the Malabar phase of his Kerala tour were charted after discussing with the respective DCCs and there is no justification in imposing restrictions on such programmes.

The Youth Congress and the Kannur DCC have backed out from seminars they were scheduled to hold on Sunday and Wednesday with Tharoor as the main speaker after the intervention of Congress leadership.

It has been reported that the Congress leadership has given instruction to the Youth Congress not to conduct programmes with the participation of Shashi Tharoor. Following this, the Youth Congress has backed out from a seminar titled ‘Sangh Parivar and the challenges faced by Indian secularism’ to be held in Kozhikode on Sunday.

Following this, Koduvally-based Congress affiliated organisation — Jawahar Youth Foundation, has taken up the responsibility of organising the event on Sunday.

Kannur DCC too backed out from holding a talk on ‘Democracy, Secularism and Politics; Nehruvian Perspective’ on Wednesday at Kannur Chamber Hall.

“What happened was unnecessary and a blatant humiliation of perhaps the most important leader of the Congress at present. This will not be tolerated,” Raghvan said.

Stating that KPCC president K Sudhakaran has clarified there were no restrictions on Shashi Tharoor attending programmes, Raghvan said that a formal complaint will be submitted to the national leadership and the KPCC, seeking an investigation into the incident.

“If a probe is not initiated despite filing a complaint, I will be forced to raise certain issues during party committee meetings,” Raghvan further said

Raghvan said that he personally believed that Shashi Tharoor is the future of Congress and that he is here to stay. “The sooner others accept it, the better,” he added.

Earlier in the day, KPCC president K Sudhakaran denied reports that the Congress leadership has restrained the Youth Congress from organising programmes with the participation of Shashi Tharoor, MP.

Tharoor kicked off his four-day Malabar tour on Sunday by participating in the seminar on ‘Sangh Parivar and challenges to secularism.’

Vatakara MP K Muralidharan on Sunday said that Shashi Tharoor is integral to the party’s functioning in Kerala.

Calling Tharoor one of the main leaders of the Congress, Muralidharan urged seniors in the party to accept those who are having leadership abilities.