Overview

• Senior Congress leader K Muraleedharan publicly rebuked Shashi Tharoor for reposting a Kerala chief minister preference poll on social media and urged him to clarify his party allegiance.
• The poll, conducted by a private agency, placed Tharoor at the top with 28.3% of respondents naming him as the preferred UDF candidate for Kerala chief minister.
• Muraleedharan dismissed such surveys as irrelevant to the official selection process and said the party will choose its CM nominee according to its internal rules.
• This exchange highlights growing friction between Tharoor and the Congress high command over his public statements, including his remarks on the Pahalgam terror attack.
• Kerala’s assembly elections are scheduled for April 2026, prompting both the UDF and LDF to monitor voter sentiment and position potential leaders.