Congress presidential poll candidate Shashi Tharoor on Thursday alleged bias and a "difference in treatment" by state party chiefs towards him, ANI reported. Tharoor, who will face Rajya Sabha MP Mallikarjun Kharge in the election, said state Congress chiefs and senior leaders were not available for a meeting with him during his visits to their respective states.


Addressing party delegates in Delhi, Tharoor said some leaders had openly come out in support of Mallikarjun Kharge, hinting at an "uneven playing field" in the polls.


"I have seen in many places, the PCC (Pradesh Congress Chief), CLP (Congress Legislature Party) leaders and big leaders welcome Mallikarjun Kharge, sit with him, invite people and tell them to be present. All this happened for one candidate but never for me," ANI quoted Tharoor as saying.


"I visited the state Congress committee, and the state chiefs were not available. I am not complaining, but do you not see a difference in treatment?" Tharoor further said.



Reacting to Tharoor's remarks, Kharge said there were no differences between them.


"We are brothers. Someone can speak in a different manner, I can do it in a different way. There are no differences between us," ANI quoted Kharge as saying.


"I am a candidate of delegates. Leaders-delegates together fielded me as candidate...dragging Gandhi family's name, I feel, is BJP's conspiracy to defame them and some people are encouraging it. I condemn this. They said anybody can contest," the Rajya Sabha MP said.


In Delhi, Tharoor said his aim was to "bring back" the voters who did not support the Congress in the 2014 and the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.


"I want to bring a change in the party. I want to bring back those voters who didn't stand by our side in 2014 and 2019," he told the delegates.


Tharoor also lamented that he could not meet some delegates as their contact details were "missing" from the list that was provided to him, PTI reported.


"There were incomplete contact details in the list of delegates that we received. Some lists had names but no contact numbers, some had names but no proper address. Hence, it was difficult to reach out to them," Tharoor said.


He said he doesn't "blame anyone" for the "incomplete" lists and that there were "flaws" in the party's system as no such election was held in 22 years.


"There are flaws in the system and we all know that. The problem is that the party's presidential elections didn't happen since the last 22 years," he said.


(With PTI inputs)