New Delhi: A consensus approach to elect the new Congress president was being discussed within the party circles in hush tones on a day nomination opened for the key post on Saturday.
The nominations will close on September 30 and can be withdrawn till October 8. Polling, if needed, will take place on October 17. The results would be out on October 19. After Rahul Gandhi refused to contest, the two main contenders for the top party post are Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor.
Over the past days, Gehlot himself has flagged the issue of consensus even as he confirmed his candidature for the top party post. “I will be filing my nomination but it remains to be seen if (the election) is going to be through consensus or through voting,” Gehlot had told reporters on Friday. On Saturday, a hint came from Congress communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh.
“The Congress has a culture of consensus but we are not running away from the polls. If needed, polls will be held on October 17 ,” Ramesh said. The veteran pointed out that elections for the post of Congress president have been held only four times in the party’s history. “The first time it was in 1939 when Subhas Chandra Bose became party president, 1948 when PD Tandon became party president, 1997 when Sitaram Kesri became party president and in 2000 when Sonia Gandhi became party president,” said Ramesh.
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Many in the party were of the opinion that a veteran like Gehlot, who has been asked by party chief Sonia Gandhi to take up the key responsibility, should be elected without a contest to present a picture of unity. “That can happen in case Tharoor either does not file his papers or withdraws later. Let us see what happens. There may be some attempts to convince him as nomination can be withdrawn till October 8,” a Congress Working Committee member said on condition of anonymity.
“If he chooses to support Gehlot, it would be better than losing the contest. The party needs unity at this point,” he said. “If I meet Tharoor, I will suggest that he withdraws. Technically, he has a right to contest an open election but he might be doing it under someone’s influence,” another senior AICC functionary said on condition of anonymity.
The remarks came on a day Tharoor’s representative collected nomination forms from the office of Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry, taking the Lok Sabha MP one step closer to his possible candidature. Tharoor’s deputy in the All-India Professional Congress Salman Soz denied there was any pressure on the Lok Sabha member not to contest but noted that the final decision to file the papers would be made by the leader himself.
“There is no pressure to withdraw. In fact, there has been a lot of encouragement within the party. But the final decision will be made by Dr Tharoor himself,” Soz told ETV Bharat.
