New Delhi: A major row erupted after Rahul Gandhi recently referred Mallikarjun Kharge as the new party president even before the results of the inter-party polls could roll out. The grand old party is facing backlash from all directions over Gandhi’s statement, with political rivals criticising it for not holding democratic values within the party.
On Wednesday, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh came in defence of Rahul Gandhi, saying that the ‘direction of voting’ was quite clear at the moment when the latter made the comment. He further called the news reports “erroneous media reports” in a tweet he made on Wednesday.
There have been erroneous media reports that Rahul Gandhi announced Kharge-ji as Congress President during his press meet that began at Adoni at around 1pm. The fact is that the direction of voting was quite clear before the press meet began.
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) October 19, 2022
The controversy began after Gandhi, who is currently leading the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, said during a press conference in Andhra Pradesh that the new party chief will decide his role in the party. “Ask Kharge ji and Sonia ji”, he added.
The latter made the statement at 1:30 pm while the results of the Congress President Election were announced after 2 pm.
80-year-old veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge is considered a Gandhi family loyalist and was broadly believed to become the first non-Gandhi president in Congress in the last two decades, much before the polls were conducted on October 17.
Kharge reportedly had the support of the Gandhi family and Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, who happened to be the first choice of the Gandhis for the position.
Meanwhile, Kharge clean swept the elections by defeating fellow party member and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, who alleged ‘bias’ and ‘extremely serious irregularities’ in the election.
