Tharoor vs Kharge for Cong presidential polls today : 10 points

Despite the Gandhis making it clear that there is no 'official candidate' Tharoor has taken veiled digs at senior leaders of the Kharge camp accusing them of "indulging in 'netagiri' and telling party workers" that they know whom Sonia Gandhi wants to be elected.

Hyderabad: Hyderabad: Congress will elect its first non-Gandhi president in over 24 years on Monday with over 9000 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates casting their votes. The Mallikarjun Kharge versus Shashi Tharoor contest will be keenly observed in the political circle. The polling is scheduled to start at 10 am and conclude at 4 pm. The results will be declared on October 19.

Here are the 10 points in this big story:

1. Describing the poll day as "historic" Tharoor stated in a tweet " the decision you ( PCC delegates) make tomorrow (Monday) will determine the future direction of this party and by extension, even the country."
2. Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday, in a veiled dig at the Mallikarjun Kharge camp, said the latter were 'indulging in Netagiri', accusing them of using the name of interim chief Sonia Gandhi and saying all knew who she wanted as party president.
3. Asking party workers to 'follow their hearts', Tharoor emphasized that 'Congress should emerge victorious' after the presidential polls, regardless of the victor's name.
4. Rajya Sabha MP Pramod Tiwari, one among several signatories in Kharge's candidature, took shots at Tharoor for the usage of the term 'revival' to push his promises ahead of presidential polls. "That which you revive is not alive in the first place. This error might have occurred due to his weakness in Hindi" he further said.
5. "I don't want to get into any controversy. He (Tharoor) is saying his thoughts, I don't want to debate his thoughts. I'm sharing my thoughts. It is our organisation or a family matter. He has the right to say what he wants to, similarly I too have. It is an internal friendly fight," Kharge, on the other hand, said.
6. Ahead of the polls, meanwhile, a procedural change was put to notice of the party's central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry by those in the Tharoor camp on Sunday, when they requested enlisting tick marks instead of the letter 1 to select a party member's favoured candidate. The complaint was raised in lieu of Kharge being serial number 1 and Tharoor being in 2 on the ballot, fearing confusion.
7. “There is excitement in the party over the presidential polls. Only the Congress party conducts an election like this. The polls are a positive thing. The party and the cadre are taking it in the right spirit. Both the candidates are taking it in a very positive way. They are complementing each other wherever possible. It is happening in a true competitive spirit. Whoever wins, we will have a leader in Rahul Gandhi and a party president who will take care of the organizational issues and party management,” AICC Secretary in charge of organization Vamshi Chand Reddy told ETV Bharat.
8. No matter what the result, the event is set to be momentous within the grand old party, with Congress all set to elect a non-Gandhi after a gap of 24 years. The election is also the first ever in the last 22 years when Sonia Gandhi took up the helm after defeating Jitin Prasada by a heavy margin.
9. Despite the Gandhis being in control, the newly elected President on October 17 is expected to work in tandem to address issues such as strengthening the organisation, ensure victory in state elections, and centralise workers across the states ahead of the General Elections in 2024.
10. The candidatures have frequently shifted in the last few weeks, with Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot giving way to Digvijay Singh, with Kharge ultimately settling at the challenger against the rather posed Tharoor.