New Delhi: Former chief minister of Madhya and Rajya Sabha member Digvijay Singh may throw his hat into the ring for the post of Congress president, sources said on Wednesday. Party’s Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, Shashi Tharoor, announced that he would file nomination on September 30. After Digvijay Singh’s announcement to contest the election, the contest has become interesting.
Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot was all set to become the president of the Congress, but the political developments in the state where the legislators loyal to him opposed the candidature of Sachin Pilot as chief Minister of Rajasthan. They also threatened to resign. That has gone against Gehlot’s becoming the Congress president, but the party high command has yet to rule out his candidature.
Meanwhile, chairman of the Congress’s Central Election Authority (CEA), Madhusudan Mistry, citing a representative of Shashi Tharoor, said that Tharoor would file nomination on September 30.
Singh said he was not keen to contest the election of Congress president. At the same time, he said, “Everyone has the right to contest election and by September 30, you will know whether I am contesting or not.” Anyone can contest the election of the Congress president, he said.
According to party sources, Mukul Wasnik, Mallikarjun Kharge, Digvijay Singh and KC Venugopal are in the race, and some of them may file nominations before September 30, the last date for filing nominations, and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 8. The party president Sonia Gandhi is keeping all options open.
