Congress ‘only party with open process to elect chief’: Tharoor files nomination
Congress presidential poll race: The party is set to elect its next chief in October.
Shashi Tharoor on Friday filed the nomination to contest in the Congress presidential poll race, which has been enveloped by controversy amid the crisis in Rajasthan. Tharoor's candidacy, meanwhile, has been least controversial.
The party members will elect their next chief on October 17, and the results would be announced two days later. Mallikarjun Kharge is the other frontrunner in the contest after Digvijaya Singh and Ashok Gehlot dropped out of the race.
In a tweet after filing the nomination papers at the Congress headquarters in Delhi, Tharoor tweeted: "I have just submitted my nomination papers as a candidate for the presidential election of @incindia. It is a privilege to serve the only party in India with an open democratic process to choose its leader. Greatly appreciate Soniaji’s guidance & vision (sic)."
While Ashok Gehlot's pulling out of the contest came in the wake of the Rajasthan crisis, and his supporters protesting amid buzz of Sachin Pilot's likelihood of succeeding him, Digvijaya Singh said he would be proposer for Kharge, a day after confirming his candidacy.
The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister visited Kharge at his residence on Friday morning. "I told him that I stand by him and can't even think of contesting against him; I will be his proposer," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
On Thursday, Shashi Tharoor had shared a picture with Singh and tweeted: “Received a visit from @digvijaya_28 this afternoon. I welcome his candidacy for the Presidency of our Party. We both agreed that ours is not a battle between rivals but a friendly contest among colleagues. All we both want is that whoever prevails, @incIndia will win! (sic)”.
Tharoor on Friday paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi at their memorials, hours before filing nomination. “Paid tribute to the man who built India’s bridge to the 21st century this morning. ‘India is an Old country but a young nation… I dream of India Strong, Independent, Self-Reliant and in the front rank of the nations of the world, in the service of mankind.’ ~ Rajiv Gandhi,” he wrote in one of the tweets.
"Paid homage to the Great Soul at Rajghat before embarking on my campaign. ‘In a gentle way, you can shake the world.’ ~ Mahatma Gandhi." he wrote in another.
