Shashi Tharoor clarifies on remarks about Congress being ‘family-run’ and Rahul Gandhi as PM nominee
Tharoor said the chances of a “surprise result” in the election next year especially with an Opposition bloc of several parties having been formed are much better than what they were six months ago
KOCHI: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said on Tuesday that his remarks at a private event about his party being “family-run” and the chances of Rahul Gandhi as the next prime minister were “misrepresented” and that he believes the Nehru/Gandhi family is the “strength” of the party.
“I see that a remark I made at a private event, which was not a formal statement crafted for public consumption, is being misrepresented by the usual people. Yes, I have frequently stated that the Nehru/Gandhi family’s DNA is inextricably tied up with that of the Congress party. The family is the strength of the party. What I left unstated is that I have no doubt that Rahul Gandhi would be the overwhelming choice of Congress party workers in any poll within the party,” Tharoor posted on the social media platform ‘X’.
While inaugurating a new office of a tech company in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday, Tharoor was asked about his chances of becoming a prime ministerial contender from his party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
To the question, he responded by stating that the parliamentary election process in India is different from that of the US where voters choose a candidate through the primaries who then contests on a party ticket in the presidential election. In India, he said the party decides who to put forth (as a prime minister) and to be a candidate in each constituency.
“It is not possible to have an Obama-type career in India. We are a vast country and we have 543 parliamentary seats and it’s not the individual merits of one person who matters. It is who can get a majority that is more than 272 MPs to vote in favour of his or her government,” he said.
He said the chances of a “surprise result” in the election next year especially with an Opposition bloc of several parties having been formed are much better than what they were six months ago.
“Once the results come out, because it’s a coalition and not one party, the leaders of those parties will have to get together and pick someone. My guess is from the Congress party, either Mr Kharge who will then be the first Dalit prime minister of India or Rahul Gandhi since in very many ways, it’s a family-run party. The merit of a parliamentary system is that the prime minister is a first among equals and the other ministers also have great responsibility for their work and whatever responsibility is assigned to me, I am confident I can do full justice to it,” Tharoor said.
