Gandhi family blessing me and Mallikarjun Kharge: Shashi Tharoor
Premium- 'The Gandhi family is blessing me and Kharge ji. Because we are contesting for making the party stronger,' Shashi Tharoor said
Congress presidential poll candidate Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said the Gandhi family was blessing him and his opponent, Mallikarjun Kharge, and had no bias towards either of them.
"The Gandhi family is blessing me and Kharge ji. Because we are contesting for making the party stronger," Shashi Tharoor said while speaking to the media after meeting party functionaries at Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee office, the former diplomat also said his aim was to make Congress stronger before the 2024 polls. "My interactions with the Gandhi family have convinced me that there is no bias from them towards either me or Kharge," he said.
"Congress has run the country nicely, we have experienced people (in party)... we need to show our strength to re-win voters. Party needs to be attractive for it, needs to be confident so voters may give us their trust," said Tharoor.
Suggesting BJP to start preparation for being a part of the Opposition, Congress presidential candidate said, "BJP should start preparing of being a part of the opposition as they will have to sit there after the 2024 elections."
He further said he wants to make Congress strong for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
"My aim is to make the Congress party strong for 2024 as our citizens are unhappy with the Modi government. People want the Opposition to be strong, as inflation is high as well as unemployment and hate speech too. In 2014 and 2019 we got only 19 per cent of votes, I want people to come to us who didn't vote for us. I want people to look into us," he said.
He further said that he and Mallikarjun Kharge are friends and the only difference between the two of them is the way of their work.
Clarifying the rumours that Kharge is an official candidate for party chief and he is not, to this Tharoor said, "Some people are saying Kharge is an official candidate and I am no one. But I want to say that the Gandhi family is unbiased and no one is an official candidate as we are standing for strengthening of the Congress party. If someone is saying that delegates are asked to vote are a certain person but it's not true."
Shashi Tharoor and Mallikarjun Kharge are up against each other in the race for the post of Congress president.
The voting for the Congress presidential elections is scheduled to be held on October 17 and the padayatra will take a break for a day for voting.
The last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 8. Voting will take place on October 17 and the election results will be declared on October 19.
"Our party needs change and I feel I am the one who will be the catalyst of change," Tharoor said. He said the Congress has run the country nicely and has experienced people in the party.
"We need to win the trust of voters," he added, during the delegate outreach event at the Congress state headquarters in Mumbai.
Congress state unit chief Nana Patole was not present.
"I had a word with Patole ji and he informed me about his prior commitment. I am not complaining at all," Tharoor said, when asked about Patole's absence.
Members of the All India Professional Congress greeted Tharoor at Tilak Bhavan. Former Lok Sabha MP Priya Dutt and former Rajya Sabha MP Bhalchandra Mungekar were also present.
Tharoor visited Chaityabhoomi, the cremation place of B R Ambedkar, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj memorial at Shivaji Park, and the Siddhivinayak temple before reaching Tilak Bhawan, the state Congress headquarters.
Tharoor also issued a video appeal on Twitter later in the day for the over 9,000 Pradesh Congress delegates who will be voting in the organisational poll.
"We face a big challenge in the Indian National Congress. The challenge of reviving our party and making it fit for purpose to fight the formidable BJP in the elections of 2024," he said in his video appeal.
"The challenge is rendered all the more significant by the fact that our party is giving the nation an example of inner party democracy that no other party has been able to," Tharoor said.
He urged the delegates to vote for him on October 17, saying "if not now, when are we going to do it".
*With inputs from agencies
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