E-Paper
People want Rahul at the helm of Congress: Kerala MPs
To be sure, the Kerala unit of the Congress has never been too fond of Shashi Tharoor, a former international civil servant who quit the United Nations in 2006 and joined the Congress ahead of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections
Two Congress Lok Sabha members from Kerala on Tuesday distanced themselves from party colleague Shashi Tharoor, who is expected to file his papers for the party’s presidential election, saying that anyone could contest the presidential elections as the Congress was a democratic party and Tharoor’s decision to contest was his “personal decision”.
The two MPs said their first choice for the party’s top post would be Rahul Gandhi or a nominee of the Gandhi family.
“People want Rahul Gandhi at the helm. His popularity during the ongoing yatra (Bharat Jodo Yatra) is testimony to it. We came to know about Tharoor’s candidature through the media…,” said Vatakara lawmaker K Muralidharan.
“If Rahul sticks to his decision to stay away from the leadership role, we will go by the directive of the Gandhi family,” he added.
Mavelikkara MP and Kerala Congress working president, Kodikunnil Suresh, on the other hand, said, “It is Tharoor’s personal decision, and he hasn’t consulted any of us. We all want Rahul Gandhi to come back. If he is not willing, we will support the candidate suggested by the Gandhi family. The Congress is a democratic party and anyone can contest for the party president’s post.”
To be sure, the Kerala unit of the Congress has never been too fond of Shashi Tharoor, a former international civil servant who quit the United Nations in 2006 and joined the Congress ahead of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. The three-time Lok Sabha member represents Thiruvananthapuram in the Parliament.
In the past, the state unit has expressed reservations about what was described as “Tharoor’s style of functioning and his independent position on many issues.”
Kerala Congress president K Sudhakaran, earlier, said the party leaders were free to exercise their conscience vote in case an election is held but later nuanced his position saying that they will go with the Gandhi family’s choice for the president’s post.
Tharoor was unavailable for comment.
The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has already drawn up plans to pass a formal resolution requesting Rahul Gandhi to return as party chief. A senior Kerala Congress leader said the proposed resolution was delayed due to the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi, which started from Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari on September 7 and entered Kerala on September 10. On Wednesday, the yatra will reach Ernakulam district.
Several state units, including Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh have already passed resolutions asking Rahul Gandhi to take up the leadership role.
Tharoor, who was among 23 leaders (G23), who wrote to Sonia Gandhi in 2020 seeking organisational reforms, met the party president on Monday in the context of his plans to file his nomination papers.
People close to Tharoor said he will file his papers by next week. The process for filing nominations will be held from September 24 to 30, and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 8. The election will be held on October 17, and the results will be declared in two days.
Tharoor has made it clear that he will not contest against any candidate from the Gandhi family.
At his meeting with Sonia Gandhi, the Congress leader said he was told that “anyone who wants to contest can stand for president“ and assured that the election would be fair and transparent.
The interim Congress president also summoned All India Congress Committee general secretary in charge of organisation KC Venugopal to New Delhi. Venugopal flew down to Delhi on Monday evening. Rahul Gandhi, who has been leading the yatra, is also likely to take a one-day break to visit Delhi.
