Tharoor hits back at rivals, calls 'bribing' allegations baseless

Thiruvananthapuram: A day after the Left and the BJP complained to the Election Commission over Union Minister Shashi Tharoor allegedly bribing pastors for votes, Tharoor has hit back, tweeting that the charges on him are baseless.

"Absurd that Opposition parties unable to beat me in an election are trying to get me disqualified on trumped-up charges. Utterly baseless," he tweeted.

Their complaints were based on the report of a regional news channel about a meeting between Tharoor and about 60 to 70 pastors at the Union Minister's residence. He reportedly was appealing to the religious leaders to persuade the people of their community to vote for him.

The complaint by BJP alleges that Tharoor is trying to reap electoral benefits by creating enmity amongst people of different religions.

According to the audio released by the regional channel Tharoor was heard saying that the competition is tough and even if he wins it will be only by a margin of about 20,000 votes. He was also explaining to them about the death of Sunanda Pushakar and how the Opposition is raising this matter as they have no answer to his development works.

The news channel also had an audio recording of a pastor saying that he attended the meeting claiming that about Rs 1,000 to 1,500 was given to the priests present at the meet. He however added that he did not take the money.