Shashi Tharoor is no match for a heartland leader. Punjab the state that Manish hails from is not really a heartland state in the UP- Bihar sense of the term. Still a Hindi speaking, dynamic leader is a better choice than a leader coming from India's southern most state.

Manish has come up through the ranks and rewarding him with the post leader of the party would have sent the right message that loyalty to party is more important than any other considerations..

Manish is young, dynamic and articulate. Then Congress politics is a different ball game altogether.