New Delhi: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday announced that he will fight the Congress President Election and will step down from the CM post if he is elected party chief.
"It's decided that I will contest (for the post of Congress President). I will fix the date soon (to file his nomination). It's a need for the Opposition to be strong, looking at the current position of the country," Gehlot said, as quoted by news agency ANI.
Speaking to ABP News, Ashok Gehlot said he will step down from the post of Rajasthan Chief Minister if he is elected Congress President.
When asked whether he has chosen his successor for the post of Rajasthan Chief Minister, Gehlot said that a decision will be reached as per the party framework.
Earlier in the day, ANI quoted Ashok Gehlot as saying: "I have requested him (Congress MP Rahul Gandhi) multiple times to accept everyone's proposal of becoming the Congress President. He made it clear that no one from the Gandhi family should become the next chief."
Previously, the Rajasthan Chief Minister had indicated that he could throw his hat in the ring if former president Rahul Gandhi does not agree to take on the party's reins.
Gehlot is believed to have the backing of the current leadership. However, Congress president Sonia Gandhi is said to have told both Gehlot and Tharoor that she would remain "neutral" in the polls.
EXCLUSIVE: Digvijaya Singh Confirms No Gandhi Will Contest Congress President Election
Shashi Tharoor vs Ashok Gehlot Begins?
Congress leader Gourav Vallabh on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Shashi Tharoor over his probable AICC president poll candidature, saying his "one major contribution" to the grand old party in eight years was to send letters to Sonia Gandhi when she was hospitalised.
In an early instance of leaders taking sides in the upcoming contest for the Congress President, Vallabh voiced support for Ashok Gehlot.
The Congress spokesperson asserted that his comments were as a party worker and not a spokesperson.
"Like crores of workers, my first wish is that Rahul Gandhi ji should provide his leadership to the Congress and the country. But if Rahul Gandhi ji remains steadfast on his decision (of not taking up the Congress chief post) and one has to choose between the two names that are appearing in public discussion, then there is no comparison between the two," Vallabh wrote in a series of tweets in Hindi.
On one hand, there is Ashok Gehlot who has the experience of being a Union minister, three times chief minister, five times MP, five times MLA, and who has defeated Narendra Modi-Amit Shah in a direct contest and who has had 45 years of "spotless" political life, he added.
"On the other hand there is Shashi Tharoor sahib who has made only one major contribution to the party in the last eight years -- sent letters to Congress President Sonia Gandhi ji when she was hospitalised, this act caused pain to crores of party workers like me. The choice is very simple and clear," he stressed.
The comment was in reference to the letter sent by a group of 23 leaders, including Shashi Tharoor, to Sonia Gandhi in 2020 seeking large-scale reforms in the party.
In a late-night tweet, Shashi Tharoor posted former US president Theodore Roosevelt's famous speech known as "The Man in the Arena".
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena… who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat," Roosevelt is quoted, in the image shared by Tharoor.
The post could be seen as Shashi Tharoor's response to Vallabh and other critics, as well as a reference to his probable All India Congress Committee (AICC) presidential post run.
ALSO READ | Congress President Election: Notification Issued. Will Contest Be Between Tharoor, Gehlot & Digvijaya?
(With Agency Inputs)