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Cong prez polls: Kharge, Tharoor’s nomination papers present contrasting stories
The nomination papers filed by Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Mallikarjun Kharge and former Union minister Shashi Tharoor for the Congress presidential election on Friday were studies in contrast.
The nomination papers filed by Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Mallikarjun Kharge and former Union minister Shashi Tharoor for the Congress presidential election on Friday were studies in contrast.
The Karnataka leader garnered the backing of both loyalists of the Gandhi family and the G23 group of leaders who pushed for internal reforms. The Thiruvananthapuram MP, on the other hand, refused to make the names of his backers public, and one of the leaders supporting his candidature said they were being pressured to change their mind.
To fight in the October 17 poll, a candidate needs 10 proposers. Kharge, 80, filed 14 pages of proposers that included some of the Congress’s senior most leaders. This included Gandhi family loyalists AK Antony and Ambika Soni, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot – who bowed out of the race after a rebellion by his supporters last week – and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh, who withdrew his candidature after Kharge’s name became public on Friday. Also on Kharge’s side were many of the G23 leaders – Mukul Wasnik, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Anand Sharma, Prithviraj Chavan, and Manish Tewari.
“We just wrote a letter, we are not part of any group,’’ said Hooda, referring to a June 2020 missive to Sonia Gandhi demanding changes in the party. “It doesn’t mean anything. We supported an old colleague.’’ Sharma and Tewari, who since August 2020 have been lambasting the Congress leadership for not bringing in reforms, did not respond to HT’s queries.
In contrast, Tharoor filed five pages of proposers. This included Sivaganga MP Karti Chidambaram, Kishanganj MP Mohammed Jawed and Nawgong MP Pradyut Bordoloi, HT has learnt, among others. Tharoor had attended some G23 meetings but didn’t appear to have found support among most of them.
“One of the proposers from Uttar Pradesh has already got a call to rethink his support and they had many questions to ask,’’ said one other proposers in Tharoor’s list, adding, “that’s why we will make the list public once the scrutiny of all the papers is over.’’ The scrutiny of nominations will be done on Saturday.
A third candidate, former Jharkhand minister KN Tripathi, filed a single page of proposers.
Officially, the Congress has said that the Gandhi family is not favouring any particular candidate and want a free-and-fair election. “They ( Gandhis) are very clear that they do not support A, B or C candidate,’’ said party’s poll in-charge Madhusudhan Mistry.
But it was clear that Gandhi family loyalists were on Kharge’s side.
One of Kharge’s proposers, Antony, played a crucial role by negotiating with various contenders in the last few days. In fact, he was brought back from retirement to find a suitable successor for Sonia Gandhi, who has been serving as interim president of the party since 2019.
“Khargeji’s distinguished service to the party and country is well known. Not surprised by the support he is getting from known INC faces. Barring a few exceptions, Dr Tharoor’s name is proposed by Congress workers. Not well known but they have a vote and a voice,’’ tweeted Congress leader Salman Soz.
