New Delhi: While the polling for election of new Congress President is underway, a cryptic tweet by contestant Shashi Tharoor has purportedly set the guessing game on next party chief to rest.
Political watchers saw nothing astounding in this as Shashi Tharoor was largely seen as an ‘outsider’ and Mallikarjun Kharge as the ‘official’ Cong candidate with blessings of the Gandhi family.
Tharoor’s cryptic tweet in Hindi is quite ambiguous but given clear hints about what could be the outcome of elections for All India Congress Committee (AICC) President.
The MP from Thiruvananthapuram tweeted this morning, “Some battles are also fought to register in annals of history that the Present leadership was not mum.”
कुछ लड़ाइयां हम इसलिए भी लडते हैं कि
इतिहास याद रख सके कि वर्तमान मूक न था।#ThinkTomorrowThinkTharoor#ChooseChangeChooseCongress— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 17, 2022
Shashi Tharoor’s only rival in the race for Congress chief post is Mallikarjun Kharge, who has years of loyalty to Gandhis as one of his fortes and is also reportedly receiving support from various Pradesh Congress Committees (PCCs).
Tharoor had earlier complained of ‘uneven ground’ and ‘unwelcome reception’ by Pradesh Congress committees, though he kept the pace of campaigning for the coveted post. Recently, he also complained of some Congress leaders persuading voters to ignore meeting him or appearing at his campaign meets.
Setting off Change Vs Status Quo debate, Tharoor had appealed to plethora of Congerss workers to vote for him if they wanted to infuse fresh vigour & new direction in the party else they can rest with Kharge for ‘laggard’ leadership.
In the ongoing AICC chief election, more than 9,000 delegates from the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) are taking part in the voting and casting their secret ballot. Voting is currently on at about 65 polling booths in the country and will go on till 4 PM.
What makes this electoral contest extra-special and headline-grabbing is because of the fact it is only for the sixth time in party’s 137 year old history that the party is polling votes to elect its chief. In most of the period, a person from the Gandhi family has remained at the helm of affairs & party.
