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Nominations for the Congress president are scheduled to begin today and the nomination papers can be filed til September 30 with results to be announced on October 19. The elections for Congress's top post seem wide open with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot already declaring his candidacy and Thiruvananthapuram MP and former union minister Shashi Tharoor widely speculated to contest as well.
Congress Central Election Authority Chairman will take the nomination papers of the candidates in his office from today onwards.
This will be the first time in 25 years that a non-Gandhi will be at the helm of the grand old party with Rahul Gandhi refusing to contest the elections despite various Pradesh Congress Committees pledging support to him.
The last time a non-Gandhi became the Congress chief was in 1997 when Sitaram Kesri defeated Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot to snatch the top job. Kesari, however, had to make way for Sonia Gandhi in 1998.
Ashok Gehlot on Friday formally announced his candidature for the Congress President, speaking to news agency ANI, he said “It's decided that I'll contest (for the post of Congress President). I'll 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."
Talking about Rahul Gandhi not being willing to contest the elections, Gehlot said,"It was the universal demand from the workers of our party that Rahul Gandhi should assume the charge of AICC president. But from the very first day, he has been declining the job. He has decided that someone from outside the Gandhi family should take it up,"
While Gehlot has declared his candidacy other candidates are yet to publicly declare their candidature for the top most. The most likely contender for the top post seems to be Shashi Tharoor who had earlier met Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi as well as Madhusudan Mistri.
If reports are to be believed, another union minister in the UPA government Manish Tewari could also put in his papers for the top job.
Meanwhile, Congress asked its spokespersons and communications department office-bearers to refrain from commenting on any colleague contesting the election a day after party spokesperson Gourav Vallabh voiced support for Gehlot and taunted Tharoor for his probable candidature.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh, in a message to the spokespersons and office-bearers of the party's communications department, said, "I would strongly urge all spokespersons and office-bearers of the communications department of the AICC to refrain from making any comment of any kind on any colleague of ours contesting the election for the post of Congress president."
With inputs from Agencies