Shashi Tharoor calls for "free and fair" election; may run for Congress president

Digital Desk: Senior leader of the Congress Shashi Tharoor, is reportedly considering running for Congress president but has not made up his mind about it. They claimed he hasn't decided yet but might make a decision shortly.

Even though Mr. Tharoor refuses to say if he would contest for the post, he has published an article for the Malayalam newspaper "Mathrubhumi" asking for a "free and fair" election.

He stated in the piece that the party should have ideally announced elections for the dozen seats on the Congress Working Committee (CWC) that are up for grabs.

According to Mr. Tharoor, who was one of the 23 leaders who wrote to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in 2020 requesting organizational reforms, allowing party members drawn from the AICC and PCC delegates to decide who will lead the party from these key positions "would have helped legitimize the incoming set of leaders and give them a credible mandate to lead the party."

The Thiruvananthapuram MP remarked, "Still, electing a new president is a start towards the revitalization the Congress sorely needs."

In addition to these positive effects, Mr. Tharoor claimed that the election also had others. For instance, he noted that "we have seen the global interest in the British Conservative Party during their recent leadership race, a phenomenon we already witnessed in 2019, when a dozen candidates contested to replace Theresa May and Boris Johnson emerged as the victor."

In the article, he said that reenacting a similar scenario for Congress would similarly boost the party's national profile and attract more supporters.

"I, therefore, hope that several people will step forward and offer themselves for consideration. Public attention will be piqued by their ambitions for the party and the country "He composed.

The party needs to be revitalized as a whole, but Mr. Tharoor asserted that the job of Congress president had to be filled immediately.

Whoever occupies the office of president will surely need to accomplish the twin tasks of energizing the Congress party workers and motivating voters given the current status of the party, the perception of crisis, and the national picture.

"He or she ought to have a strategy for resolving the party's issues as well as an outlook towards India. After all, a political party serves the country as a tool, not as an end in itself" he explained.

"In any case, a free and fair election process would be a healthy way to resolve the issue. It would validate the mandate being offered to the next president "He stated.

Tharoor wrote in response to the recent departure of party veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad, "the latest in a steady stream of departures has been fueling incessant media speculation and a daily dose of obituaries for the party."

Faced with internal strife, the Congress announced on Sunday that the election for its president would take place on October 17, claiming that it is the only party in the country that follows such a democratic process.

The outcome will be announced on October 19.

The election notification will be issued on September 22, and nomination filing will begin on September 24 and continue until September 30.

K C Venugopal, the AICC general secretary organization, said at the press conference where the party announced the schedule, "The election is open to anyone. It is a free and open election." The CWC meeting took place after several leaders, including Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, publicly urged Rahul Gandhi to return as party leader.

However, the issue remains fraught with uncertainty and suspense. According to several party insiders, Rahul Gandhi is sticking to his position that he will not be AICC president.

Mr. Gehlot tried to downplay reports that he was the frontrunner for the Congress president's post on Wednesday, saying he would work until the end to persuade Rahul Gandhi to take over the reins of the party again.

Rahul Gandhi resigned as Congress president after the party was defeated for the second time in a row in the 2019 parliamentary elections.

After an open uprising by a group of leaders known as the G-23 in August 2020, Sonia Gandhi, who took over the reins of the party once more as interim president, also offered to resign. However, the CWC encouraged her to remain in power.