E-Paper
‘No G23 grouping now’: Kharge starts Congress president election campaign
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, a candidate for the party president’s post, on Sunday asserted that the “G23” camp no longer exists and all leaders are united to fight the BJP and RSS.
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, a candidate for the party president’s post, on Sunday asserted that the “G23” camp no longer exists and all leaders are united to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
The leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, who resigned from the post on Friday to contest the election, also said he told Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor, who is also in the fray for the poll, that it would be better to have a consensus candidate but the latter insisted on a contest for the “sake of democracy”.
Kharge was addressing the media during the launch of his Congress presidential poll campaign when he made the remarks. While the election, if needed, is slated to be held on October 17, the results will be declared on October 19.
Also read: Congress files complaint against filmmaker for fake video of Rahul Gandhi 'refusing to do aarti'
“There is no G23 camp now. All leaders (of G23) want to work together to stay united and fight against BJP-RSS. This is the reason they are supporting me,” the 80-year-old said.
Several leaders such as Bhupinder Hooda, Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari and Prithviraj Chavan were among 23 leaders, popularly called G23, who had written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in 2020, seeking organisational reforms in the party.
These leaders have now, however, put their weight behind Kharge by becoming his proposers for next month’s poll.
Kharge said he is contesting the election on the insistence of senior leaders as no member of the Gandhi family wanted to become the party chief.
“All my colleagues told me to fight the party president poll and on their calling and encouragement, I got inspiration as they extended their cooperation… because Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi do not want to become president,” he said.
He dismissed allegations that he is Gandhis’ candidate. Talking about Tharoor’s phone call to him after nominations, Kharge said he told him that it would be “better to have a consensus candidate to which he (Tharoor) said that there should be a fight in a democracy, and then I said okay”.
“When a candidate decides to contest, how can I stop him? So, he is fighting and he is my younger brother. It is a family matter and we have to stay united today and tomorrow,” he said.
Also read: Congress will implement old pension scheme if voted to power: Pratibha Singh
Kharge said he has not entered the poll fray to oppose anyone but to “strengthen the party”. “Will always work to take forward the party’s principles and ideology,” he said.
He said that in line with the “one person, one post” principle of the party, he resigned as LoP in Rajya Sabha on Friday, the day he filed the nomination.
To fight in the October 17 poll, a candidate needs 10 proposers.
Kharge filed 14 pages of proposers that included some of the Congress’s senior most leaders. Besides Sharma, Tewari, Hooda and Chanda, the list of proposers 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.
(With PTI inputs)
