Thiruvananthapuram, Saturday 4 April 2009: Shashi Tharoor, the Congress candidate from Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency walked out of ‘Porkkalam’ the debate show conducted by Asianet News. Tharoor left the show on half way after the activists of LDF and UDF clashed amidst the show. The clash occurred when queries regarding the performance of Pannyan Raveendran, the present MP was raised by a section of the people who participated in the debate.

Tharoor turned down the requests to co-operate with the programme for 15 more minutes and stated that he has no interest in such programmes. He had arrived for the programme nearly 45 minutes late. The later part of the programme was shot in the absence of Tharoor.

Tharoor had actively participated in the first part of the programme, in which questions about the candidate and their vision were thrown open. Some among the queries were related to the criticism made by Tharoor regarding the Congress party, which he now represents and Sonia Gandhi.

Apart from Tharoor, LDF candidate P Ramachandran Nair, BSP candidate Dr Neela Lohita Dasan Nadar and BJP candidate PK Krishnadas participated in the programme.