Senior congressional leader and one of the most ardent advocates of change in the party, Shashi Tharoor, has received approval from party chief Sonia Gandhi to run for president in the internal elections next month, sources told DailyExpertNews.
Here’s your 10-point cheat sheet in this big story:
Mr Tharoor, the first to throw in his hat, had previously hinted that he would run for president of Congress. It is speculated that Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot could be another participant.
Sonia Gandhi, the party’s interim president, gave the green light to the matter shortly after meeting Shashi Tharoor and a few others on her return from a medical check-up abroad.
Ms Gandhi had taken over as the party’s interim chief after her son, Rahul Gandhi, stepped down following the defeat of the 2019 elections, on the understanding that the matter would soon be settled through elections.
Rahul Gandhi, who currently heads the party’s “Bharat Jodo” yatra, insists on his refusal to fight despite repeated requests from some of the key leaders.
Spurred on by the Gandhi family loyalists, congressional units in three states have called for Mr Gandhi’s appointment as chief – supporting the suspicion of many that the Gandhis would retain control of the party, with or without elections. As the election gets closer, more such requests are likely to come in.
Originally a member of the group of 28 leaders demanding an organizational overhaul, Shashi Tharoor has been monitoring the election process ever since.
Last week, he was one of the leaders who, in a letter to the central electoral authority AICC, sought “transparency and fairness” in the electoral process. He was also one of the leaders who asked for the electoral roll to be made public.
This morning, Mr Tharoor had a petition signed by a group of young party members calling for a revamp. The petition referred to the party’s “Udaipur Declaration” issued in May, which calls for fair elections and rules such as one candidate per family and one person per post, in addition to a five-year limit on party posts.
The elections for the post of congressional chairman will be held next month after two years of back and forth on the subject. The submission of nominations for the post of president begins in three days.
The elections will take place amid the departures of a number of key leaders in the past year – including Kapil Sibal, Jaiveer Shergill, Sunil Jakhar, Amarinder Singh, RPN Singh, Ashwani Kumar and Hardik Patel. Last on the list is senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, whose departure was followed by most of the party’s Jammu and Kashmir unity leaders.