Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, on Monday expressed his disdain after photos of him with Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra went viral online. He claimed that these photos were taken during a birthday celebration but were distorted to show that these photos were captured at some secret meeting.
Tharoor's reaction comes days after his pictures with Moitra went viral on social media platforms including X formerly known as Twitter. The pictures featured Mahua Moitra and Shashi Tharoor along with other people reportedly having dinner at a restaurant and raising a toast together.
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The Congress MP also went onto say that Mahua Moitra is several years younger than him and that he viewed her as a "child". "This is such low-level politics," he said during a media interaction in Kerala’s Kottayam. "It was that child's birthday. I can't call her a child, but for me, she is like one. She is 10 to 20 years younger than me,” he further said.
He further said that there were 15 people present at the birthday party and that his sister was also invited. Tharoor also noted that some people deliberately edited out other people and presented it as some sort of a secret meeting.
“My sister was also invited, and she was in attendance. However, some people deliberately cropped out others and presented it as some secret private meeting. Anyone who sees these photos should think about who would have taken the photo if it was indeed a secret meeting. It was her birthday," he said.
He also condemned "online trolls" and the attention given to these matters. "I don't give all these trolls much importance, not even the importance that the media sometimes gives them. I won't be giving it any more importance either. Our priority is working for the people," Tharoor said.
His reaction came days after the TMC MP accused Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) "troll sena" of circulating her personal pictures. She also said that these pictures were taken out of context. Moitra was responding to a user after pictures of her wearing a green dress and posing with a cigar went viral on X formerly known as Twitter.
"Most amused to see some personal photos of me being circulated on social media by BJP's troll sena. I like green dress better on me than white blouse. And why bother cropping- show rest of the folks at dinner as well. Bengal's women live a life. Not a lie," she said in her reply to social media users.
A social media user had also expressed concerns about health implications of smoking after the picture went viral. The user said that smoking is not good for health and causes cancer. The TMC MP had clarified, "I don't smoke. I am severely allergic to cigarettes. I was just posing for a joke with a friend's cigar."
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