Congress MP Shashi Tharoor was hospitalised on Monday after he was injured during a temple visit in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram, reports said.
Tharoor was observing the ‘thulabharam’ ritual at the Gandhari Amman Kovil in the city, Mathrubhumi reported. The ritual involves being weighed on a scale against offerings to the temple.
Since Monday was Vishu, the Malayalam new year day, Tharoor was at temple before embarking on his poll campaign, according to PTI.
After ‘thulabharam’, Tharoor was waiting to observe the ‘deeparadhana’ ritual when the scale broke and he hit his head, the report said.
The Congress MP was rushed to a general hospital, but later moved to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College for treatment, Mathrubhumi said.
Tharoor received 6 stitches to the head, but doctors said he was out of danger, ANI reported.
Television channels showed the former union minister getting into a car with a bandaged head and waving to onlookers wearing a blood-stained kurta.
Tharoor is Congress-led UDF’s candidate for the Thiruvananthapuram seat in the Lok Sabha elections.
A two-time MP, he will face BJP’s Kummanam Rajasekharan and LDF’s C Divakaran when Kerala goes to polls on 23 April.