Kerala needs economy reset; willing to be voice for change: Shashi Tharoor

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has pitched for making his election-bound home state Kerala investor- and-business-friendly, in order to shore up its economy. The Thiruvananthapuram MP said if he can be the voice to do that, it will be a far more useful role he can play than any other.

"I've been an advocate of something that we could perhaps have in other states, but Kerala desperately needs, which is an Investor Protection Act to tell you folks that if you sink your money into Kerala, you will not lose it other than for business reasons, but not because of politicians and bureaucrats or trade unions, anybody else tying you in knots; that, we will have a ban on hartals, that we will slash 90% of the regulations...all of these things have to be done, and we can do all that," Tharoor said at the ET World Leaders Forum, when asked whether he was interested in becoming the chief minister of Kerala.

Tharoor said he had never sought any position in his career. "Every job I've held, from my UN days onwards, people have sought me out and said, 'we need you for this'. And I have served. That's basically been the way it's been," he said. "I did put myself forward for the Congress presidency...that was because a number of people persuaded me to do so. It was not an idea that it occurred independently to me," he said.

As Kerala is headed for election early next year, with the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF attempting for a third consecutive term, there has been much debate as to who should be the electoral mascot of the Congress in the state as the party is facing a do-or-die fight this time. Names of Tharoor, leader of opposition in assembly VD Satheesan, AICC general secretary (org) KC Venugopal and CWC member Ramesh Chennithala often figured in this context in the discussions in political circles.

Tharoor asserted Kerala needed a change, especially its state of economy. "I believe that the change is indispensable, particularly for the kinds of things The Economic Times is concerned about. The economy is in dreadful shape. We are so much in debt...," he said.