Congress leader Sashi Tharoor, MP, appeared not to rule out contesting for the All India Congress Committee (AICC) president's post.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a news conference to announce the Kerala leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi, Mr. Tharoor said he had little to share at the current stage.
"I have not made any official announcement, nor do I plan to. The electoral process is a few weeks away. Let us wait for the time the procedures begin. I just said all options are open. I am a Lok Sabha member and my focus in politics is national. If vistas open up, one does not want to say no. Let us wait and see how the process is going to evolve. People are free to speculate, he said.
Mr. Tharoor said it was beside the point whether a person was a candidate or not. “The elections are a good thing for the party. A democratic country needs a democratic party. Multiple candidates vying for the Congress president’s post indicate robust inner-party democracy. “
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor during a press conference on the party’s ‘Bharat Joda Yatra’ in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: PTI
“Finally, only one person emerges as the winner of the electoral contest. The point is that the Congress’s organisational elections will generate keen national interest. The leadership in Britain’s Conservative Party had riveted public attention.”
Mr. Tharoor said he was "gratified" that his write-up on the Congress organisational elections had generated such interest. The Congress had announced an election, and the party would conduct the polls freely and fairly.
Jairam Ramesh’s reaction
Congress media chief Jairam Ramesh refused to speculate on the question about Mr. Tharoor's purported candidature for party president.
He sidestepped the query by suggesting that "anybody and everybody" could electorally compete for the post of Congress president. The Congress had shown the courage and political will to conduct inner party elections. No other party, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or the Communist Party of India (Marxist), could claim to be genuinely democratic.
G-23 does not exist
Mr. Ramesh said the so-called G-23 group, which ostensibly campaigns for inclusive and collective leadership, did not exist. “It is a figment of your imagination. It never existed. The Congress always had a full-time president,” he said.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh speaks during a press conference regarding the party’s ‘Bharat Joda Yatra’ in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday. Congress leaders Digvijaya Singh, Shashi Tharoor and others are present. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Mr. Ramesh did not name Congress dissident Ghulam Nabi Azad, who broke his decades-old association with the party. “Few people leave the party because of personal issues and not out of any ideological reasons. They have nothing to say about the Sangh Parivar or Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is surprising that they suddenly find everything is not hunky and dory in the Congress party after 30 long years of allegiance,” he said.
