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Tharoor releases manifesto, roots for more power to state chiefs
With about 14% of the total delegates from UP, the state will have a big say in choosing the man who would be expected to steady the Cong ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
LUCKNOW Irrespective of who ends up winning the first Congress chief’s election in over two decades, without a Gandhi in the mix, it is clear that with about 14% of the total delegates from Uttar Pradesh, the state will have a big say in choosing the man who would be expected to steady the party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
As many as 1,248 of the total 9,303 party delegates (voters) are from UP – the reason why campaign managers of both veteran contestants Mallikarjun Kharge, 80, and Shashi Tharoor, 66, – are spending considerable time connecting with delegates here.
“I know various things are being said about one being flamboyant, other a favourite. But now with the decision to hold the election by a secret ballot, the outcome can’t be predicted because both bring something to the table. Both are from south and both are veterans. So, the delegates in UP will play a key role in determining who gets the top party position,” a UP Congress Committee (UPCC) delegate said.
“No matter who wins, the grand old party is set to adopt a younger look with both contenders for the party chief’s post stating their preference for choosing a team of those largely 50 years or so,” said Irshad Ilmi, a veteran journalist and political observer.
Leaders at the Congress party office, where life has returned due to the ongoing party poll, said the office was being readied for the October 17 (Monday) poll. Tharoor has been repeatedly claiming that some party leaders were “under pressure” to vote for his rival and had been seeking a secret ballot – a demand that has now been met.
The Congress party, in its internal communication, has also announced that no AICC general secretary, state in-charges, secretaries and joint secretaries would be allowed to cast votes in their assigned state and would be able to do so either in their home state or at the AICC office.
“This has been done to maintain transparency,” reads a message by Madhusudan Mistry, the returning officer for the polls.
Top party leaders, including veteran Rajya Sabha MP Pramod Tiwari, were present when Kharge had campaigned among the delegates at the party office in Lucknow. While who all turn up to welcome Tharoor is yet to be seen, Tharoor has been claiming that unlike Kharge, who is being welcomed by party functionaries including state chiefs, he is largely meeting common cadres, thereby implying an “uneven playing field”.
Kharge had earlier campaigned at UPCC office on Tuesday where he vehemently denied the buzz of being a candidate backed by the establishment and now much focus is on Tharoor, a member of the G-23 group, when he visits UPCC office on Sunday. “His day is packed. He comes around 11am and would leave by 5pm,” a senior party leader said on Tharoor’s visit that had to be rescheduled due to Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s demise on October 10.
Before Tharoor, his 10-point manifesto, in at least six Indian languages including Hindi and Urdu, has arrived and is being much talked about for the preciseness with which it has been drafted. Tharoor’s manifesto talks about decentralization of power, delegating more authority to state chiefs, making party offices the centre of all activity, evolving a consensus approach to decision making as opposed to top-down model.
The BJP took pot shots at the Congress. “What an election is this where everyone knows who the winner is going to be,” said UP BJP spokesman Harish Srivastava.
