Political analyst and Congress ideologue Tehseen Poonawalla, in a candid conversation with The Statesman, has opened up on his relationship with his brother and BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla.

Speaking about the issue, Poonawalla said that his separation from his younger brother Shehzad was a “karmic debt” that he has to pay.

“It’s a relationship that I haven’t spoken about because I do feel my separation with him was a karmic debt I had to repay,” he said.

Opening up on his ties with Shehzad at The Statesman Talk podcast, Tehseen said, “We don’t talk. And it hurts me a lot…. It has been seven years and now i have come to the terms with it.”

When asked if it started with political differences, Tehseen said, ” Yes.. he challenged Rahul Gandhi for Congress president’s elections. He had his reasons and I do understand the reasons behind his decision and I do accept those.. but then there were certain things that were not acceptable to me… So I believe it was a Karmic debt that I had to pay at some point of life.”

A lot of friends & my SM fam often, to hit me below the belt comment on my relationship with Shehzad. It’s a relationship that I haven’t spoken about because I do feel my separation with him was a karmic debt I had to repay. It’s for the first time on @TheStatesmanLtd podcast, I… pic.twitter.com/cNnUafi7rd

— Tehseen Poonawalla Official (@tehseenp) June 13, 2024

He further added,” There is no fight, at least from my end and I certainly believe there is no fight from his end but it’s just we don’t talk.. baat karni hi nahi hai.”

An emotional Tehseen said that in the past seven years, he has suffered a lot.

“I raised Shehzad like a son… Our father passed away when we were very young and Shehzad is like six years younger than me so i literally looked after him like a child.

“The fact of being physically away, and mentally away and emotionally away…it really took me through a lot of pain… I would wake up at night feeling like I am drowning… So fought that pain…. But I knew that we couldn’t reconcile,” Tehseen said.

“People have mocked me a lot, on social media.. they would suggest.. arrey AAP dono bhai ke bich setting hai, Congress ke sath bhi… But it’s not like that..we are in limelight so much…It doesn’t happen like that.. it has been seven years and if it was fake… it would have been seen somewhere…,” he said.

He said that while separation from Shehzad have him a lot of pain, it also helped him evolve in life.

“The separate from Shehzad felt like I am drowning in an ocean. Like I am suffocating.. he is my child…I brought him up… He is everything to me. But it was necessary for me to be away.. it helped me evolve, I learnt that no amount of pain can put me down…” he added.

Notably, Shehzad Poonawalla was in the Congress party before joining the BJP in 2017. He had challenged Rahul Gandhi for Congress president’s elections and called the grand old party’s organisational polls a “sham”.

Watch Full Episode of The Statesman Talk with Tehseen Poonawalla below