Mallikarjun Kharge
By G Krishna Mohan Rao*
New Delhi: Congress Party’s presidential election scheduled on October 17, 2022, seems to be one-sided with growing support for Mallikarjun Kharge from all sections of the party particularly including from the seniors. Congress party observers feel that Shashi Tharoor, despite initial euphoria, was not able to pick up the campaign and support, with a result, the election seems to be non-serious and Kharge is all set to become the new Congress president.
There is a straight contest for the top Congress President post. 80-year-old Mallikarjun Kharge is a Dalit leader from Karnataka. He spent his life in Congress and was an MLA for more than 30 years. He was a senior Union Minister at the Centre and also at present he is the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha but resigned when he decided to contest the presidential election. On the other hand, Shashi Tharoor is a high-profile international civil servant, diplomat, writer and public intellectual. 66-year-old, Tharoor, is a Member of Parliament for the third term, representing the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat since 2009.
With the election campaign coming to an end, open support from the senior leaders for Mallikarjun Kharge seems evident. Leaders like Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, former Haryana Congress President Kumari Selja, Kerala strongman Ramesh Chennithala, Ex-Uttar Pradesh unit chief Pramod Tiwari and former Union Ministers Manish Tiwari, Salman Khurshid and Kantilal Bhuria have issued appeals to the delegates seeking support for Kharge.
While the incumbent office bearers have avoided taking a public stand, these are all important leaders having the stature of representing the majority opinion in the party. These leaders explained why Kharge was a better choice, stressing his unmatched experience as he rose through the ranks over five decades from an ordinary party worker. Kharge’s seniority, consensual approach and proven loyalty to the party are cited as the main attributes. Asked if this was not a violation of directives issued by the Congress central election authority, many leaders felt that office-bearers should not campaign but delegates can express their choice in their personal capacity.
National media and political circles are guessing and speculating that the Gandhi family is supporting Kharge because of the presence of most senior leaders at the time of filing nomination. But so far, neither Sonia Gandhi nor Rahul Gandhi nor Priyanka Gandhi expressed their views or preferences on the election process. One senior leader said that if any of the three Gandhis speak on candidates, the election will be projected as a farce. The truth is that Kharge enjoys the support of the majority of the leaders and this kind of consensus is difficult to emerge without a hint from the Gandhi family. But that hint might have come because the majority of leaders have expressed their support for Mallikarjun Kharge.
On the other hand, things are gloomy in the camp of Shashi Tharoor. Less than 10 delegates were present on October 13 afternoon at the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee office when Tharoor went to campaign for himself. Delhi has 272 delegates who will vote in the presidential election. Instead of accepting this as a lack of support for his candidature, Tharoor kicked up a ruckus over a level playing field, creating an impression that entrenched forces in the party were manipulating the election in favour of the other candidate, Kharge. About 250 delegates were present when Kharge visited the Delhi PCC office a few days ago.
Congress Party sources maintain that the “story is the same in most states”. Even Tharoor indirectly admitted to media persons that at several PCCs in the states there is a lack of support for him. But Tharoor argued that “when Kharge goes, all the senior leaders are present, delegates come in large numbers. Delegates are told by the State leaders to be present. This never happened in my case. This is why I am saying there is no level playing field”.
By and large, it is clear, that despite Tharoor’s high-profile image, he is unable to garner support in the party organisation. Many delegates outrightly support Kharge ‘s candidature over Tharoor. It is said that Tharoor has angered large sections of senior leaders by joining the fray and deepened anxieties with statements that have been viewed as reckless. Many ask “who is Tharoor? How did he presume he could be a Congress president? We are toiling in the party for 30-40 years. He came in 2009 and contested the Lok Sabha election straightaway. Now he wants to lead us. Even G-23 (the Congress dissident group) which he was a part of, refused to support him because there were many veterans in the group”.
In many states, the Congress delegates realised that Kharge is the real party candidate with many veteran Congressmen openly backing him. When Kharge filed his nomination there were a whole lot of veteran party leaders present and when Tharoor filed his nomination nobody was present. So the message was from the entire party, not from the Gandhi family. Many delegates openly say that “we have never interacted with Tharoor”.
On October 17, Monday, the election will be held for the Congress president post simultaneously in Pradesh Congress Committee offices from 10 am to 4 pm. Results will be announced on October 19. It may be recalled that ever since the Congress Party got drubbed in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, there was no election for a new party chief. Sonia has been in charge as the interim president after Rahul Gandhi stepped down as the party chief owning moral responsibility for the party’s electoral defeats.
*Senior journalist
