Shashi Tharoor is a disaster. He had embarrassed both the Congress leadership and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government as a union minister.

Let me list his controversies during his tenure in the UPA government. First of all, the sweat equity worth Rs 70 crore given to his friend-turned-wife Sunanda Pushkar for her work in getting the consortium led by Rendezvous Sports World the IPL (Indian Premier League) Kochi franchise in 2010 prompted the opposition (read BJP) to launch an onslaught on the UPA government and then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He was then minister of state for external affairs.

Finally, the Congress high command asked him to tender his resignation to put an end to the controversy.

Prior to that, Congress president Sonia Gandhi had issued a stern warning to him over his tweets on cattle class and holy cows.

Asked on Twitter if he would travel cattle class the next time he visited Kerala, Tharoor had responded: “Absolutely, in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows!”

This triggered strong reactions not only from the opposition parties but also within the Congress. Ashok Gehlot had then demanded his sacking as the union minister for such remarks.

The party also from its official podium condemned his remarks and insisted that he was perhaps not conscious of the sensitivities since he was new to the Indian politics.

While making such stupid remarks, Tharoor had completely forgotten that he had stayed in a five-star hotel in Delhi as his official residence was being renovated.

Though Tharoor claimed that he was paying the amount from his own pocket, the move had mortified the Congress at a time when it was preaching austerity measures to its leaders and workers.

He had later explained to the Congress president and Dr Manmohan Singh that it was a joke. But such jokes at the expense of our vast middle-class population was completely insensitive and uncalled for.

If he is made the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, he is bound to be a disaster and would often cause huge embarrassment to the party. I agree Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is no better.