By naming Mallikarjun Kharge as the party’s new leader before the results were in, senior Congressman Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday sparked a heated debate. The remark of Rahul Gandhi have garnered criticism from all quarters, and other political parties have been charged with lacking democratic ideals. On Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi gave a press conference at roughly 1 pm, and the results were not made public until after 2 pm.
“Kharge ji should mention on the role of the Congress president, not me. Rahul Gandhi added that the Congress president would decide what his role would be and how to use him. In response to a follow-up query, he said, “That you will have to ask Kharge ji and Sonia Gandhi ji.”
The tweet also claims that the declaration was made while the votes were being counted to determine the Congress President.
Mallikarjun Kharge’s position as party president was made clear at that time, as per Congress, clarifying on Rahul Gandhi’s claim.
Veteran Congressman Jairam Ramesh spoke out in favour of Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday. Mr. Jairam claimed that at the time the former president made the remark, the “direction of voting” was obvious. In another tweet that he posted on Wednesday, he referred to the news reports as “inaccurate media reports.”
By a vote of 84%, Mallikarjun Kharge won.
Mallikarjun Kharge is an ardent supporter of the Gandhis. Prior to the voting on October 17, he was largely regarded as the front-runner to become the Congress’ first non-Gandhi chief in more than 20 years.
Senior party officials were said to support Mr. Kharge, including Rajasthan’s chief minister and the Gandhis’ first choice, Ashok Gehlot.
In the presidential election, he received 7,897 of the 9,385 delegates from the Pradesh Congress Committee, nearly 84% of the vote, whereas Shashi Tharoor received just 1,072 votes.
Shashi Tharoor, Mr. Kharge’s opponent, has lamented “bias” and “an unequal playing field” in the lead-up to the polls. As ballots were being counted in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram also cited “very severe irregularities” and urged that the results be thrown out. In their campaign statement, Team Tharoor said, “We did not enter this election to accept business as usual.”
Courtesy pic: www.hindustantimes.com
Shashi Tharoor finished last but is currently far ahead in the foreseeable future.
Always the outsider, he outpunched everyone else. But after obtaining more than 1,000 votes in the Congress presidential election, Shashi Tharoor has made his mark and announced that he cannot be disregarded any longer. And the near to 12% vote share he obtained demonstrates the Congress’ eagerness for change.
The new Congress president, Mallikarjun Kharge, must acknowledge Tharoor and the perspective he represented in the critical internal election. Kharge received 1072 votes, which Tharoor supporters claimed was amazing given the fact that Kharge was an establishment candidate. Not to mention that there was pressure on the delegates to support the establishment closer to the election, they claimed. Sources close to Tharoor claimed that many more people than the 1,072 who supported him agreed with his call for change but lacked the confidence to carry it out. The Tharoor team also regularly brought up the issue of being hindered by PCCs in several states.
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