Union Minister of State for IT and Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar and three time Congress MP Shashi Tharoor (R)
Credit: PTI Photos
Thiruvananthapuram: Even as most community outfits used to make clear their preferences overtly or covertly during the polls, the Hindu Nair outfits could be in a catch-22 situation this time as two persons from the community, whom the Nair forums had hailed earlier, are almost likely to contest each other in Lok Sabha polls in Thiruvananthapuram this time.
While Union Minister of State for IT and Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar already began his campaign as BJP candidate, three time Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is also in the campaign mode even as a formal announcement of his candidature is still awaited.
Both Chandrasekhar and Tharoor could boast of a high profile and both were hailed by Nair forums in Kerala earlier. When Chandrasekhar was made a minister in the Narendra Modi government, some Nair outfits openly thanked Modi for giving representation for the Nair community in his government.
Tharoor also enjoys a good rapport with Nair Service Society (NSS), the prominent body of the Hindu Nair community.
NSS invited Tharoor to inaugurate the birth anniversary celebrations of NSS founder and social reformer Mannathu Padmanabhan last year. It was after a long gap that a Congress leader was invited to inaugurate the function. NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair, who had earlier mocked Tharoor as a 'Delhi Nair', even said that he was correcting his mistake.
"Tharoor is a son of Kerala and a global citizen. There is no other person as competent as Tharoor to inaugurate the Mannam birth anniversary celebrations," he had said.
Even as Chandrasekhar called on the NSS general secretary on Thursday to "seek his blessings", Nair preferred not to make any open comments to the media regarding the meeting.
Nair community is the second largest Hindu community in Kerala and the community has considerable presence in Thiruvananthapuram.