Congress Polls Live: Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor (L) and Mallikarjun Kharge are the only two contestant left in the party president polls. (PTI)Congress Party President Election 2022 Live Updates: Congress presidential polls candidate Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday said he has not entered the polls to oppose anyone but to strengthen the party. Kharge said he entered the polls after senior and young leaders alike urged him to enter the fray. He said that in line with ‘one person, one post’ principle of the party, he resigned as Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha on the day he filed the nomination.
In a tough electoral face-off with Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge for the AICC chief’s post, Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said he would be open to the idea of a public debate between the candidates as it would evoke people’s interest in the party in a manner similar to the recent British Conservative Party leadership race. He also said the Nehru-Gandhi family has held and will always hold a special place in the hearts of Congress party members.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday said that Mallikarjun Kharge has the experience to strengthen the Congress and would emerge as a clear winner in the party presidential poll, while his rival in the race Shashi Tharoor belongs to the “elite class”. “Kharge has a long political experience. He has a clean heart, he comes from the Dalit community and (Kharge contesting election) is being welcomed everywhere,” he told reporters after paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at the secretariat. Gehlot, one of the proposers of Kharge, said Tharoor is also a good man and has good thoughts but he is from the elite class.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor files his nomination papers for the post of party president, at AICC headquarters in New Delhi, September 30, 2022. (Express photo by Anil Sharma)
Congress presidential polls candidate Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday said he has not entered the polls to oppose anyone but to strengthen the party. Kharge said he entered the polls after senior and young leaders alike urged him to enter the fray. (Express/Amit Mehra)
The Congress Party has been a courtiers’ club so long that the revolt of a single courtier became a major political event last week. From high political circles to Delhi’s once powerful drawing rooms to the under-furbished Lutyens bungalows that the BJP’s big leaders now occupy, one word was whispered last week with awe: Gehlot. How did he find the courage? This uncharismatic man with the bad hairdo, known only for his devotion to the Dynasty, how could he defy Sonia Gandhi? How could he betray the Dynasty that helped him rise from being a lowly magician’s son to becoming Chief Minister of Rajasthan three times? Tavleen Singh writes
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who will face senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge in the upcoming party presidential elections, on Sunday said, "We aren't enemies, it's not war. It's a poll for our party's future. Kharge Ji comes in the top 3 leaders of the Congress party. Leaders like him can't bring change & will continue the existing system."
I'll bring change as per expectations of party workers, the Thiruvananthapuram MP added. (ANI)
Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday said that keeping in mind with 'one person, one post' principle, he resigned as Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha on day of filing his nomination papers for the upcoming Congress presidential elections.
When asked about Shashi Tharoor's remarks that he is a candidate for change, Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday said that after the upcoming presidential elections, any decision for reform will be taken jointly and not by one person. He also rejected suggestions that the Gandhi family was backing him, saying he was urged by other leaders to contest.
Veteran Congress leader Mallikarjun, who is also a front runner for the upcoming party president polls, on Sunday said that he has not entered elections to oppose anyone but to strengthen party.
He also said, "In line with 'one person, one post' principle, I resigned as the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha on day of nomination."
"There is unemployment, inflation is rising; all promises of BJP remains unfulfilled," Kharge added. (PTI)
Congress leaders Deepender Hooda, Syed Naseer Hussain and Gourav Vallabh on Sunday resigned from party spokesperson post to campaign for Mallikarjun Kharge in the upcoming party president polls.
More from India
In a tough electoral face-off with Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge for the AICC chief's post, Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said he would be open to the idea of a public debate between the candidates as it would evoke people's interest in the party in a manner similar to the recent British Conservative Party leadership race. He also said the Nehru-Gandhi family has held and will always hold a special place in the hearts of Congress party members.
In an interview with PTI, Tharoor said the answer to the Congress' current challenges lies in a combination of effective leadership and organisational reforms. Kharge and Tharoor were left in the fray in the Congress presidential poll after former Jharkhand minister K N Tripathi's nomination was rejected on Saturday.
Talking about what he brings to the table, Tharoor said, "I have a proven and credible track record in leading at the highest levels of organisations, whether it has been at the UN, where, as the under-secretary general in-charge of the body's public information department, I managed the communications of the UN's largest department comprising of over 800 staff in 77 offices worldwide, rationalised its structure, trimmed its budget and sharpened its efforts – all of which prompted many to urge me to contest to lead the UN Organisation itself." (PTI)
In a veiled attack on Sachin Pilot, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday said it should be looked into as to why there was resentment among MLAs over the name of a new chief minister in the state. Several MLAs loyal to Gehlot, who was seen as the frontrunner for the post of Congress national president, had last week submitted resignation letters over a possible move to appoint Pilot as the next chief minister.
Gehlot later announced that he will not contest the Congress presidential polls as he took moral responsibility for the political crisis in his state. Referring to the crisis, he said 80-90 percent MLAs switch sides when a new chief minister is going to be appointed but this did not happen in Rajasthan.
“When a chief minister is changed, 80-90 percent (MLAs) leave him and switch sides. They turn to the new candidate. I too don't consider it wrong. But it was a new case in Rajasthan where the MLAs got agitated just in the name of the new chief minister,” Gehlot said without naming Pilot. (PTI)
Shashi Tharoor’s chances of being the next Congress president may have taken a hit after Mallikarjun Kharge entered the fray as the Gandhis’ unofficial choice but the MP from Thiruvananthapuram is going all out to do his bit to ensure he stands a chance to cause an upset.
After filing his nomination papers on Friday, Tharoor released a manifesto positioning himself as the Congress’s future. Using the tagline “Think tomorrow, think Tharoor”, he detailed 10 tenets for revitalising the party, among them decentralising the organisation by “giving real authority to the PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) presidents” and reimagining the role of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters. Among the other internal changes that he has proposed are limiting party president and other office-bearer posts to two five-year terms and organising elections to 12 posts out of 23 in the Congress Working Committee (CWC). (Read more)
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday said that the veteran party leader Mallikarjun Kharge has the experience to strengthen the Congress and would emerge as a clear winner in the party presidential poll, while his rival in the race Shashi Tharoor belongs to the "elite class".
“Kharge has a long political experience. He has a clean heart, he comes from the Dalit community and (Kharge contesting election) is being welcomed everywhere,” he told reporters after paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at the secretariat here. Gehlot, one of the proposers of Kharge, said Tharoor is also a good man and has good thoughts but he is from the elite class.
"Tharoor is a class apart; he is from elite class but the kind of experience which is needed to strengthen the party at booth, block and district levels, that is with Kharge and cannot be compared to Shashi Tharoor," he said "Therefore, it will naturally be a one-sided contest for Kharge,” he said. (PTI)
There is an unusual, almost obtrusive, interest in the internal party elections of the Congress party. Two years ago, nobody in India including the BJP rank and file, and certainly no member of the Congress party, cared tuppence when Mr J P Nadda was ‘elected’ President of the BJP. Nobody bothered to ask about the ‘electoral rolls’. Nobody knew who the Returning Officer was or if Mr Nadda had filed his ‘nomination’. Although the BJP was the ruling party and boasted of having the ‘largest’ membership of any political party in the world, Mr Nadda’s election was a non-event. (Read more)
Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge has resigned as the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, sources said on Saturday, a day after he filed his nomination papers for the AICC president’s election.
Kharge’s resignation, which the 80-year-old leader sent to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, is in line with the party’s declared ‘One person, One post’ principle that was announced at the Udaipur ‘Chintan Shivir’ in May.
The resignation letter was sent by Kharge last night, the sources said. (Read more)