india

Updated: Apr 17, 2019 09:53 IST

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi Tuesday praised the “spirit” of Shashi Tharoor, seeking re-election from here, for joining him in campaigning despite suffering head injuries during a temple ritual a day ago.

Gandhi, while addressing thousands of party workers in a poll campaign here, said he was worried when heard about Tharoor’s injury.

Tharoor, who sustained a head injury Monday resulting in six stitches, was seen in the poll campaign with his head wrapped with a scarf covering the stitch.

“I was worried when Tharoor was hurt. But happy to see that he was back in action. Tells you about his spirit. As Congress president, I tell you, he represented you well in Parliament.... He speaks for you in the Parliament. He is an asset for Kerala,” Gandhi said.

The 63-year old MP was admitted to the medical college ICU here for observation yesterday and later discharged.

Earlier in the day, Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who was in the state for the BJP’s poll campaign, visited Tharoor in the hospital and enquired about his health.

Tharoor had also tweeted a picture of him with Sitharaman and said”Civility is a rare virtue in Indian politics - great to see her practice it by example! ‘Thulabharam’ is a Hindu ritual in which a person is weighed against a commodity such as flowers, grains, fruits and similar articles in temples and the equal value or quantity is offered as donation.

While Tharoor was sitting on one of the pans of the weighing scale, the hook came off and its iron panel fell on his head.

Monday being the Malayalam new year day (Vishu), Tharoor performed the ritual by offering sugar equal to his weight in the morning before embarking on his poll campaign.