Nirmala Sitharaman, who has sparred bitterly with Congress leaders, is seen smiling in this photo.Thiruvananthpuram: Congress candidate Shashi Tharoor tweeted this morning that he was touched by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's gesture of visiting him in hospital a day after he was injured during a religious ritual at a temple in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram. "Civility is a rare virtue in politics," he posted, sharing a photo with the minister and top BJP leader in his hospital room."Touched by the gesture of @nsitharaman, 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!(sic)," wrote Shashi Tharoor. Nirmala Sitharaman, who has sparred bitterly with Congress leaders, especially its chief Rahul Gandhi over the Rafale deal controversy, is seen smiling in the photo as she shakes his hand.Mr Tharoor, a two-time lawmaker from Thiruvananthapuram, was hurt when a heavy iron hook fell on him while he was being weighed on a giant scale as part of the "thulabharam" ritual, in which a person sits on the scale against a mound of offerings like fruit and sweets, equal to the devotee's body weight.

He participated in the ritual as a part of Vishu celebrations, which is Kerala's traditional New Year. The Congress leader was admitted to the Government Medical College in Thiruvananthapuram; he received eight stitches and also tweeted about the incident. He is likely to be discharged from the hospital today and will resume his campaign. In another post this morning, the Congress parliamentarian thanked his Left Democratic Front rival C.Divakaran, a three-time left legislator, for "expressing concern" over a phone call."Very gracious of my LDF rival C.Divakaran to call this morning to express concern about my well-being.

Said he had spoken to the Hospital Superintendent to assure himself I would be ok.

"Don't be demoralised", he added.

I'm not: I'm more determined than ever to see this through!" Mr Tharoor wrote.Mr Tharoor is seeking re-election from Thiruvananthpuram, which is set for a three-cornered fight between the Congress, Left and the BJP.

Kummanam Rajasekharan, ex-Governor of Mizoram, is the BJP candidate.Kerala will vote in a single phase on April 23 in the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections.

The results will be out on May 23.Get the latest election news, live updates and election schedule for Lok Sabha Elections 2019 on TheIndianSubcontinent.com/elections.

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