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Ex-Congress leader on Tharoor's future in party: ‘Much will depend on how he…’
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor lost the party's presidential poll but managed to garner more votes than any of the losing candidates in the elections to the top party post held in 2000 and 1997.
Former Congress leader Ashwani Kumar on Wednesday said that Mallikarjun Kharge's massive win in party's presidential election shows that Sonia Gandhi has the “last word in the internal politics”. In a series of tweets, Kumar said that Gandhi is likely to command such respect as long as she is active in the party in whatever capacity, asserting that party persons retain a sense of personal loyalty to her, which extends to the family. (Also Read | ‘How times have changed’: Pilot camp's swipe as Gehlot loyalists meet Kharge)
Doubling down on reports that claimed Kharge's candidature was backed by the Gandhi family, Kumar said that the party veteran was Sonia Gandhi's “undeclared choice is indisputable notwithstanding vehement denials by the establishment to the contrary.”
"Sonia Gandhi has once again demonstrated her astute political judgment in using elections to demonstrate the family's pre-eminence in the party established over long years of exercise of political patronage," he said.
The former union minister also lauded losing Congress presidential candidate Shashi Tharoor for "making a political statement by walking the talk."
“He has clearly outshone most of his once-upon-a-time colleagues in the G-23 grouping and has positioned himself as a challenge,” he added, referring to the group of 23 senior Congress leaders who wrote to Sonia Gandhi in 2020 demanding organisational overhaul.
“He has registered his presence on the national scene for the long run. Much will depend on how he conducts himself hereon and how the Party treats him. He need not complain about the absence of a level playing field, which is never the case in a David vs Goliath fight,” Kumar said.
Tharoor lost to Kharge in the race to Congress chief post by securing 1,072 votes against Kharge's 7,897. After the results were announced, Tharoor asserted that the revival of the party has truly begun.
"This is not an issue about an individual. I only wish that the party is strengthened. For a stronger India, you need a stronger Congress," he said.
