Thiruvananthapuram: Former United Nations under secretary general Shashi Tharoor will make his political debut in Lok Sabha elections contesting from Thiruvananthapuram as Congress candidate.
"I am not looking beyond a victory in the constituency of Thiruvananthapuram. It is for the people of Thiruvananthapuram that I am here," says Tharoor.
Unfazed by the 'outsider' tag, Tharoor says he is confident of rallying support by bringing "different" vision and experiences onto the political stage.
The 53-year-old former diplomat says he "accepted" that the the local people may feel that their hardwork is being bypassed in favour of somebody from the outside".
"Concerning this my only answer truly can be that if you look at the overall national picture one needs a balance. One needs people who indeed are absolutely from the very soil that they are representing. And, one needs people who bring a different vision to that overall shape of the electorate is represented though different kinds of vision," Tharoor, who has also authored many books, told a tv channel.
He was questioned about his new role and the charge that most of his recent life he had lived in New York and "knew Manhattan more than Thiruvananthapuram". Tharoor started working with the UN in 1978 and resigned from the post of under secretary general in February 2007.
Backed by India, he unsuccessfully contested for the post of the UN Secretary General in 2006.
The noted diplomat, who was India's candidate for the office of UN Secretary General in 2006, had earlier indicated that he will contest the Lok Sabha polls if he was given a chance and gave indications that his choice was Congress.
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