Ashok Gehlot announced on Thursday that he would not flee after a near mutiny in his state. (File)
New Delhi:
Congressman Manish Tewari could become the second member of the party’s “G-23” dissenters to join the increasingly chaotic contest for the head of Congress after Shashi Tharoor, sources have hinted.
Following the withdrawal of Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and the entry of Digvijaya Singh on Thursday, some of the G-23 leaders including Prithviraj Chavan, Bhupinder Hooda and Manish Tewari met at Anand Sharma’s residence and reportedly discussed the situation.
A decision on whether Manish Tiwari – who is keen to run – should contest the election was set to be made Friday morning, sources said.
Shashi Tharoor, who was part of the G-23, will submit his nomination papers for the top party post on Friday.
Mr Tewari later told reporters that no one has submitted the nominations yet and things won’t be clear until after Friday.
He said the G-23 group sat for deliberations and discussed the situation.
Mr Chavan also said it was good that internal polls were conducted in a democratic manner and stated that they had previously thanked Congress chief Sonia Gandhi for the free and fair elections.
“Let’s see who submits the nominations, and we will support the best candidate in the fray,” he said after the meeting.
The G-23 group had written to Sonia Gandhi asking for organizational overhaul and internal polls at all levels.
Congress’ attempt to hold elections to elect a new, non-Gandhi chief has seen several plot twists.
While Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was reportedly a favorite of the Gandhis ahead of the election, he announced that he would not participate on Thursday after a near mutiny in his state by his loyalists who did not want his rival Sachin Pilot to be named his successor. .
Not long after, Digvijaya Singh told DailyExpertNews that he would flee, as the “field is now clear”. He will probably also submit his papers on Friday.
But the tension over the election may be far from resolved, even if Tewari’s entry turns it into a triangle contest.
Congressional sources have told DailyExpertNews that the party leadership is seeking a preferred candidate for the party’s top post.
There is a possibility that the candidate could be Mukul Wasnik, a staunch loyalist of the Gandhi family who was awarded a Rajya Sabha seat earlier this year.
