Did Congress Give Ticket To Its Critic In Jaipur? After Tharoor’s ‘Epiphany’ Jibe, Sunil Sharma's Clarification

Congress recently released its third list of candidates for Lok Sabha polls which came under political scanner for naming Sunil Sharma–a man allegedly liked to a right-wing organisation known for ridiculing the grand old party–  as its candidate for the Jaipur Lok Sabha seat.

Reports claimed Sharma is associated with ‘The Jaipur Dialogues’, which identifies itself as a “platform for the right thinking people”, and was launched in 2016 by the now retired IAS officer Sanjay Dixit.

Internal Call To Reconsider Decision

Soon after reports about Sharma’s association with The Jaipur Dialogues surfaced, Congress workers and supporters asked the party to reconsider its decision to field him from Jaipur.

Congress leader and its Thiruvananthapuram candidate Shashi Tharoor also flagged several posts by The Jaipur Dialogues handle targeting him.

Wondering how the man allegedly linked such a platform ended up on the Congress candidates list, Tharoor posted on X, “He must have undergone some sort of Pauline epiphany on the road to 24 Akbar!”

While 24 Akbar Road is the Congress headquarters in Delhi, the term “Pauline Epiphany” seems to refer to the biblical tale of the conversion of Paul the Apostle from a persecutor of Christians to a follower of Jesus.

Sharma’s Clarification

However, after garnering critical eyeballs for his candidature, Sharma has issued a statement, saying that while he has attended some panel discussions hosted by Jaipur Dialogues, he has no link with its management.

“I was never associated with the management of The Jaipur Dialogues YouTube channel. I am often invited by TV and YouTube channels as a panelist to put forward Congress’s perspective. In the same way, The Jaipur Dialogues invited me to speak on social issues and elaborate on the Congress vision. There I strongly opposed religious bigotry,” he said in a statement in Hindi, posted on X.

The Congress candidate further said that he parted ways with the company long back and rumours are now being spread with vested interests.

He has also claimed that the Jaipur Dialogues Forum company has no link with those managing the YouTube profile, The Jaipur Dialogues.

“I have long ago severed ties with the directorship of Jaipur Dialogue Forum (which has nothing to do with the ownership of YouTube) about which some people, due to their vested interests, are spreading rumours,” he claimed.

Despite Sharma’s claim, several social media posts highlighted that he was associated with the controversial platform till as recently as November 2023.

Interestingly, Sharma participated as a panellist in a debate on “Digital Divide in India – AI and Civilisation.” hosted by the platform on November 5, 2023.

As per the publicly available information on websites such as Zauba Corp, Sharma is still listed as one of the five directors at The Jaipur Dialogues, having been appointed in September 2019.