Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 19: Even as some senior leaders of the Congress are continuing their efforts to “convince” Rahul Gandhi to take back the mantle of the party, the present indications point at contest for the presidential elections between the two veteran leaders of the party, the former union minister Shashi Tharoor and the Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot.
While the Congress sources had earlier hinted that the party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi had cajoled Gehlot into contesting for the presidential poll next month, Shashi Tharoor was reportedly given the go ahead by Mrs Gandhi to contest for the post when he called on her following her return from abroad where she had gone for a medical check-up.
“Senior Congress leader and one of the most ardent advocates of change in the party, Tharoor, has got the nod from party chief Sonia Gandhi to run for president in next month’s internal election. His opponent will be Ashok Gehlot, Congress sources said on Monday.
Tharoor — the first to throw his hat in the ring — had earlier hinted at running for Congress president. Sources said Gehlot would visit Delhi On September 25 and file his nomination the next day.
Mrs Gandhi had taken over as the interim chief of the party after her son, Rahul Gandhi, had stepped down from the post after the 2019 elections defeat, with the understanding that the matter would be settled through elections shortly.
Rahul Gandhi, who is currently leading the party’s “Bharat Jodo Yatra,” is insistent on his refusal to contest, despite repeated requests from a section of key leaders.
Spurred by the Gandhi family loyalists, Congress units in three states have called for Gandhi’s nomination as the chief – supporting the suspicion of many that the Gandhis would retain control of the party with or without an election. More such requests are likely to come in as the election gets closer.
Originally a member of the group of 28 leaders who demanded an organisational overhaul, Tharoor had been keeping tabs on the election process since. Last week, he was among the leaders who sought “transparency and fairness” in the poll process in a letter to the AICC central election authority. He was also among the leaders who asked that the list of voters be made public.
On Monday morning, Tharoor signed a petition by a group of young party members calling for a revamp. The petition had referred to the party’s “Udaipur declaration” made in May, which commits to fair elections and rules like one candidate per family and one person per post, besides a five-year cap on party posts.
The elections for the post of the Congress president is scheduled to be held next month after a two-year-long back and forth on the subject. The filing of nominations for the post of the president begins in three days. The elections will take place against the backdrop of exits by a number of key leaders over the last year – including Kapil Sibal, Jaiveer Shergill, Sunil Jakhar, Amarinder Singh, RPN Singh, Ashwani Kumar and Hardik Patel. The latest on the list is senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, whose exit was followed by most leaders of the party’s Jammu and Kashmir unit.
Captain Amarinder Singh, who quit the Congress after he was asked to quit the Punjab chief ministership just months before the Assembly elections last year, on Monday joined the BJP along with his other family memers barring his wife Preneet Kaur, a Congress MP.
Kaur continued to remain in the Congress since her quitting the party would cost her the Lok Sabha membership.
Preneet Kaur served as Junior Foreign Affairs Minister in the Manmohan Singh Government from 2009-2014. Ms Kaur is presently a sitting Congress MP from Patiala. The Congress has not sought her resignation nor has she offered to resign. “It suits both of them as congress knows if they ask her resignation the seat will go for by election and that would benefit AAP so both are silent,” a senior BJP leader said.
The former Punjab chief minister also retorted angrily when he was asked why his wife was not with him when five of his other family members including his son and daughter joined the saffron party along with him. “It is not necessary that the wife will do the same as the husband does,” the 81-year old former Congress leader said.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi won the young hearts when he participated in a boat race exhibition held in Kerala on Monday during the course of the on-going “Bharat Jodo Yatra” which started from Kanyakumari on September 8. A clip of the snake boat race exhibition held in Punnamada Lake Showed two snake boats, with men, on both sides, rowing in sync. As the camera zooms in, Gandhi is seen sitting on one of the boats and rowing. Towards the end, the boat, on which Gandhi was seated, manages to reach the finish line first and beats the other group of rowers.