2014 contest was tougher, says Shashi Tharoor

Congress leader and party candidate from this parliamentary constituency in Kerala Shashi Tharoor, who is aiming for a hat-trick win in the Lok Sabha elections, on Saturday said that the 2014 fight was tougher.

"The last one (2014) was tougher as there was a character assassination done. Added to that, there was a (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi wave. But this time, there is no Modi wave at all," Tharoor told the media in the presence of Congress Working Committee member A.K. Antony.

Tharoor is pitted against former Mizoram Governor Kummanem Rajasekheran of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and C. Divakaran, a sitting CPI legislator and a former State Minister.

In 2004, Tharoor scraped through with a margin of around 15,000 votes, down from a margin on 99,987 votes that he got in 2009.

"Modi has cheated people as the dreams he sold failed to materialize. I admit that like in 2014, this time too, it's a three-cornered fight. But through the effective campaign that we put up, we have been able to counter that," he said.

Kerala goes to the polls on April 23.

--IANS

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