Manish Tewari supports Mallikarjun Kharge for post of Congress chief

The Congress presidential election is scheduled for October 17; the results will be announced on October 19. Besides Mallikarjun Kharge Kharge, Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor is also in the fray.

New Delhi: Prominent G23 leader Manish Tewari on Friday extended his support to Mallikarjun Kharge, a candidate for the Congress presidential election, saying the party needs a “safe pair of hands” and only the latter can provide “stability” by leading it.

Manish Tewari said Mallikarjun Kharge had dedicated over 50 years of his life in the service of the Congress

The Congress presidential election is scheduled for October 17; the results will be announced on October 19. Besides Kharge, Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor is also in the fray.

Speaking to reporters, Tewari said Kharge had dedicated over 50 years of his life in the service of the Congress.

“If all the facts are considered and an impartial assessment is done, then Mallikarjun Kharge, who has dedicated over 50 years of his life to the service of Congress, in that case, I believe that in this situation, the Congress party needs a safe pair of hands in the form of Kharge,” Tewari said.

“He is a composed personality. Kharge has spent several years and has grown from the lowest posts in the party. Congress needs stability which I feel Kharge can provide,” he added.

Tewari, along with party leaders Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari and Prithviraj Chavan, was among 23 dissident leaders, popularly called G23, who had written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in 2020, seeking organisational reforms in the party.

These leaders, however, have now put their weight behind Kharge by becoming his proposers for the presidential election.

Tewari’s public endorsement of Kharge also indicates that not all G23 members are in favour of Tharoor.

Tharoor, meanwhile, said he was gladdened by the reception he has got from partymen in Madhya Pradesh and admitted he did not get this kind of welcome in some states.

“I am glad at the reception I received in Madhya Pradesh. State Congress president Kamal Nath, Leader of the Opposition Govind Singh met me,” Tharoor told reporters in Bhopal.

He was accompanied by party MLA Lakshman Singh, younger brother of Rajya Sabha MP and senior leader Digviijaya Singh.

“It is true I did not get such a welcome in other states,” he added.