New Delhi: Taking cue from Sonia Gandhi, the entire top brass of the party lined up to support Mallikarjun Kharge as next Congress president even as his rival Shashi Tharoor pitched the polls as a “change vs status quo” issue.
Kharge, a Sonia Gandhi confidante, was the eleventh-hour entry into the high-profile election which pushed seasoned leaders like Ashok Gehlot and Digvijay Singh to the margins in a quick turn of events over the past few days.
Gehlot backed out on Thursday after he failed to ensure a smooth transition of power in Rajasthan as per Sonia’s wishes recently and Digvijay withdrew from the race sensing the incumbent party chief’s choice.
Kharge’s name had been discussed in the party circles as a probable for the key party post but he carefully maintained a low profile over the past week till Friday morning when the news about his candidature became official.
Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor, who filed his nomination papers shortly before Kharge, pitched the presidential polls as a contest between “change vs status quo” as he highlighted the need to push decentralisation of power and greater role for the youth to restrengthen the Congress.
“Those who want change would support me while those who prefer status quo would support Kharge,” Tharoor said after filing his papers.
“This is not a battle. This is a friendly fight. I have high regards for Kharge,” he said, adding that “the polls would reflect the wishes of the over 9000 PCC delegates who would vote in the polls.”
The Lok Sabha MP also launched his online campaign with hashtag “ThinkChangeThinkTharoor” to indicate that he was in the fray with a plan and even presented a booklet, highlighting the change that he proposes to bring, which will be distributed to the PCC delegates.
Tharoor also noted that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had told him that they would remain neutral in the polls and that a contest for the top party post was as per democratic traditions of the grand old party.
However, which way the wind was blowing in the grand old party was indicated when a host of veterans, including Gehlot and Digvijay, lined up to express solidarity with Kharge.
Sonia’s influence in the Congress could be gauged from the fact that seniors like AK Antony, Ashok Gehlot, Ambika Soni, Mukul Wasnik, Ajay Maken, Anand Sharma, Pawan Bansal, Bhupinder Hooda, Digvijay Singh, Tariq Anwar, Salman Khurshid, Manish Tewari, Prithviraj Chavan, among others signed Kharge’s nomination papers as proposers.
In contrast, hardly any veteran worth his name came to support when Tharoor filed his papers. Yet, Tharoor pointed out that his candidature was proposed by 60 PCC delegates from 12 states and was in a way representative of nationwide support he enjoyed in the party.
“I would reflect the voices of all the Congress workers,” said Tharoor.
Though Tharoor is a third term Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala and has been a former union minister, Kharge started his political journey as an MLA in 1972 and has eight Assembly tenures in Karnataka to his boot as well as terms in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, where he is the leader of the opposition.
Kharge's appointment as the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha in 2021 was in fact an indication of Sonia Gandhi’s trust in him.
Since then, he has been leading the opposition during the parliament sessions and has been the focal point of the large opposition unity plans that Sonia has for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Kharge is also regarded by the top leaders across the states and had played a key role in resolving many crises on Sonia’s behalf.
“As a child I had a liking for the Congress ideology and used to stick posters on the wall. I would strengthen the party ideology in future as well,” Kharge said as he thanked the party for giving him an opportunity and urged the PCC delegates to support his candidature.
Kharge represents the old guard in the party and shares the same consensual approach to decision making as that of Sonia Gandhi in contrast to Tharoor who started talking about the gaps in the system right from day one.
For many in the party, Kharge, who comes from a Dalit background and comes across as a commoner, had a clear edge over Tharoor, who is tech savvy but is mostly liked by the English-speaking middle class.
On his part, Kharge refused to comment on his rival candidate in the key election saying the polls would take place on October 17 and the results would be known on October 19.
However, sources close to Kharge said he would reach out to the PCC delegates and though the veteran is not active on social media, he would make good use of the new age online platforms to publicise his views.
The contest for the top party post is taking place in the grand old party after 2000, when Sonia Gandhi was elected Congress president by defeating Jitendra Prasada with a heavy margin.
