Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha Congress candidate Shashi Tharoor, aiming for a hat-trick of wins, yesterday sought a probe into a freak accident at a temple near due to which he had to have eight stitches on his head.
“My mother, who is 86 years old, said she has never ever heard of the ‘tulabharam’ breaking. So it’s better that a probe is needed to know what happened. The district Congress committee president has already written to the police seeking a probe. Let us know what actually happened,” Tharoor said, after he was discharged from the Medical College Hospital here.
The incident occurred at the Gandhari Amman temple when he went to celebrate Vishu, the traditional Hindu New year.
The ritual involves sitting on one side of a balance scale with offerings equivalent to one’s weight on the other side.
As Tharoor sat on the balance, the chains holding it broke and fell on his head. He was rushed to a hospital.
Yesterday, he had a surprise visitor in Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The Congress MP said he was touched by Sitharaman’s gesture.
“Touched by the gesture of Nirmala Sitharaman, who dropped by today morning to visit me in the hospital, amid her hectic electioneering in Kerala.
“Civility is a rare virtue in Indian politics – great to see her practice it by example,” Tharoor tweeted.