New Delhi, September 30
Eighty-year-old Mallikarjun Kharge, the sitting leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, is all set to become the next Congress president with the Gandhi family loyalists as well as leaders of the pro-reform G-23 group throwing their weight behind him after he filed his nomination for the election to the top post on Friday.
As soon as Kharge, a last-minute entrant after Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot pulled out of the race, announced his decision to run, another contender for the Congress chief’s post Digvijaya Singh withdrew in the veteran’s favour and calls surfaced seeking consensus behind the former nine-term Karnataka MLA and a three-term MP.
Gehlot, who was one of the formidable proposers for Kharge today, said perhaps Shashi Tharoor, who also filed his papers for the contest today, “would also withdraw from the contest making it a consensus election”.
Former Haryana Congress chief Kumari Selja also appealed to Tharoor to withdraw.
Tharoor, 66, however, said he was determined to run and was not “daunted by his rival”.
“This election is about the youth and the future of India. I have a vision to decentralise the Congress, reimagine AICC headquarters, increase focus on youth and women. My nomination papers with 60 signatures represent the voices of Congress leaders from Kashmir to Kerala, Punjab to Nagaland, and across,” Tharoor said planning to visit all states and distribute his “manifesto” to all 9,100 Pradesh Congress Committee delegates, who are voters in the election.
Kharge for his part had a strong list of proposers who signalled complete backing of incumbent Congress president Sonia Gandhi to the senior leader.
