Kharge for consensus candidate, Sashi opposes
Rejects claims that he was the "official candidate" backed by the Gandhis
image for illustrative purpose
New Delhi: Nominee for the Congress president post Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday said he told fellow contender Shashi Tharoor that it would be better to have a consensus candidate, but the Lok Sabha MP insisted on a contest for the "sake of democracy". Kharge said if he becomes the party chief, he will consult the Gandhi family and other senior leaders and implement the good things suggested by them, even as he rejected claims that he was the "official candidate" backed by the Gandhis.
Launching his Congress presidential poll campaign with a press conference at his residence here, 80-year-old Kharge said there is no G-23 camp now and all those leaders want to fight unitedly against the RSS-BJP and therefore are supporting him.
Several dissident leaders such as Bhupinder Hooda, Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari and Prithviraj Chavan of the group of 23, which had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi in 2020 for large scale organisational reform, have put their weight behind Kharge by becoming his proposers instead of backing Tharoor who was a prominent member of the grouping.
Kharge said all senior leaders and youth leaders urged him to contest the polls as no member of the Gandhi family - Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra - 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.
Kharge asserted that he had not entered the poll fray to oppose anyone but to strengthen the Congress through his views and to take forward the party ideology. He said that in line with 'one person, one post' principle of the party, he resigned as Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha on the day he filed the nomination.
Kharge elaborated on his political journey of struggles and successes, and asserted that working for a party is not a part-time job but a full-time work. "I have been working full-time. If I sat in Parliament then I would get up only in the evening at the time of shut down. It is my habit that whatever I take up, I work sincerely," he said.
The polling, if needed, will be held on October 17. The counting of votes will be taken up on October 19 and the results will be declared the same day. More than 9,000 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates will vote in the poll.
