Congress President Election: Mallikarjun Kharge To File Nomination Today, Will Manish Tewari Enter Fray?
Nominations for the post of Congress president closes at 3 pm today and results will be declared on October 19.
New Delhi: Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge will join the contest for Congress president and will file his nomination for the party's top post today, as reported by news agency ANI.
With this, the contest for the post appears to be between Kharge, Digvijaya Singh, and Shashi Tharoor. Nominations for the post of Congress president close at 3 pm today and results will be declared on October 19.
With the Gandhis not running for the top post this time around, the grand old party is all set to get a non-Gandhi president after over 25 years.
Manish Tewari To Join Fray?
Ahead of the last day of filing nominations, some of the G-23 leaders held a meeting on Thursday evening at Anand Sharma’s residence. The meeting was attended by former union minister Manish Tewari, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
The leaders discussed the whole situation emerging in the run-up to the Congress presidential polls. The leaders will meet again, as reported by the news agency ANI. A leader from the group is expected to file a nomination on Friday for the party’s presidential polls, ANI reported.
"Nobody has filed a nomination yet. Once it is done, there will be contemplation. The democratic process has begun. BS Hooda, Anand Sharma, Prithviraj Chavan and I sat for deliberation and discussed events," ANI quoted Manish Tewari as saying while leaving Anand Sharma's residence.
On being questioned about whether G-23 will support candidates whose names have come for the party's presidential poll so far, Tewari said, "Days pass between collecting, filing and withdrawing nomination papers. The decision will be taken at that time. In English, it is called in politics 'it is the preponderance of probabilities'. Let us see what happens tomorrow," as reported by ANI. The G-23 leaders had sought organisational overhaul and internal elections at all levels.
"It is good that polls are being held in the party in a democratic way. We thanked Sonia Gandhi for the free-fair polls. Let us see who will file the nomination. We have heard a few names. We will support the best candidate in the field," Prithviraj Chavan told ANI.
Mallikarjun Kharge's Candidature
Kharge is a former Union minister and a Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist.
Earlier it was reported that Kharge was not averse to running for AICC president polls if party chief Sonia Gandhi asks him to contest. "Kharge has told Sonia Gandhi that whatever the party decides, he will adhere to it," a close associate of the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said as reported by PTI, adding: "Ultimately, he will do what the party (Sonia Gandhi) suggests him to do".
A Congress leader said Kharge has "good connect and rapport" with opposition leaders like NCP chief Sharad Pawar and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury which would be an "added advantage" and "he is sharp as ever", PTI reported. "In the Hindi heartland also, he has got a sort of fan following for his Hindi," another leader said.
"He (Kharge) has never declined anything that the party has asked him to do," the close aide said. "The party took care of him. Whatever the party decides, he will do," PTI reported.
Ashok Gehlot Withdraws From Contest
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who was top contender in the Congress president poll but has now said he will not fight for the post of Congress chief due to political crisis in the state triggered by action of his loyalists who were averse to Sachin Pilot becoming chief minister. Gehlot also met Mukul Wasnik and Pawan Kumar Bansal.
Earlier Gehlot met Sonia Gandhi at her residence at 10 Janpath in Delhi. "I met Rahul Gandhi in Kochi and requested him to fight the polls (for Congress President). When he didn't accept, I said I'll contest but now with that incident (political crisis in Rajasthan), I have decided not to contest the elections," CM Gehlot said.
Gehlot also apologised for the ruckus in Rajasthan triggered by his loyalists over a possible leadership change in the state after Gehlot was set to file his nomination papers for the Congress chief polls. Gehlot said that whatever happened in the state in the past two days had shocked everyone. He said that he won't contest the elections in this atmosphere. "I won't contest these elections in this atmosphere, with moral responsibility," Gehlot said.
On being asked if he will remain Rajasthan CM, Gehlot said, "I won't decide that, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will decide that."
"One-line resolution is our tradition. Unfortunately, a situation arose that resolution wasn't passed. It was my moral responsibility (to pass the resolution), but despite being a CM I couldn't get it passed," he added.
Talking to reporters, Gehlot said the party works under the Congress president and decisions will be taken in the time to come. He said Congress workers worry about the direction in which the country is heading and tackling the issue was more important, ANI reported.
Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh on Friday collected his nomination papers and announced that he is likely to file his nominations tomorrow between 11 am to 3 pm. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has announced that he will submit his nomination for the post at 12.15 pm on Friday.
The filing of nominations for the top Congress post will take place till September 30 and the election will take place on October 17. (ANI)
(With Inputs from agencies)
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