Is Python ‘No No’ for Competitive Programming?

I have written code for https://www.spoj.com/problems/AIBOHP/16 in both python and c++. Both the solutions follow the exact logic. While c++ gets AC, python gets TLE. It would be very helpful if someone could come forward and explain the difference in the code. This is very crucial because I would have to switch to C++ completely if python has this disadvantage.

Python Solution:

if __name__ == '__main__':

    import sys
    from sys import stdin, stdout
    sys.setrecursionlimit(3*6111)
    
   def solve(i, j):
       if i>=j:
          return 0
       if T[i][j]!=-1:
          return T[i][j]
       if s[i]==s[j]:
          T[i][j] = solve(i+1, j-1)
       else:
          T[i][j] = 1 + min(solve(i+1, j), solve(i,j-1))
       return T[i][j]     

    t = int(stdin.readline())
    for _ in range(t):
        s = stdin.readline()[:-1]
        n = len(s)
        T = [[-1 for _ in range(n+1)]for _ in range(n+1)]
        stdout.write(str(solve(0, n-1)) + '\n')

C++ solution:

#include <iostream>
#include<string.h>
using namespace std;
long T[6110][6110];
string str;
long solve(long i,long j)
{
    if(i >= j)
        return 0;
    if(T[i][j] != -1)
        return T[i][j];
    if(str[i] == str[j])
    {
        T[i][j] = solve(i+1,j-1);
    }
    else
        T[i][j] = 1 + min(solve(i+1,j),solve(i,j-1));
    return T[i][j];
}
 
int main() {
    long t,n,m;
    cin>>t;
    cin.ignore();
    while(t--)
    {
        getline(cin,str);
        memset(T,-1,sizeof(T));
        cout<<solve(0,str.length()-1)<<"\n";
    }
    return 0;
}

Thank you for your time and consideration!