KN Tripathi, a Congress leader and former Jharkhand minister, filed his nomination for the Congress president election on Friday. This has set up a three-way contest for the Congress top post with Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor and Mallikarjun Kharge, who is seen to have the backing of the Gandhis, also in the fray.
Tripathi handed over the nomination papers to Madhusudan Mistry, chairman of the Congress' Central Election Authority, at the AICC headquarters in Delhi.
Tripathi served as the national president of the Congress-affiliated Indian National Trade Union Congress (Tripathi faction).
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"Our leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have said every Congres worker can contest for this top post. They have sacrificed the posts of Prime Minister and party president," ANI quoted KN Tripathi as saying before he filed his nomination papers.
KN Tripathi left the Indian Air Force to pursue a career in politics. He ran for the Daltonganj Assembly constituency on a Congress ticket for the first time in 2005 but lost.
He was appointed minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, and Labour in the Jharkhand government after winning the Assembly elections in 2009.
"I belong to a farmer's family. The country is seeing that son of a farmer who has experience of serving with the Indian Air Force, minister in state government and elected as deputy leader of Jharkhand Legislative Assembly, can also contest for the post of AICC President," ANI quoted Tripathi as saying.
Tripathi was the national president of the Indian National Trade Union Congress.
(With Inputs From ANI)