Party chief poll: Congress springs surprise on last day of nomination

PoliticsParty chief poll: Congress springs surprise on last day of nomination

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New Delhi: The Congress sprang a surprise on the last day of filing nominations for election to the post of party president on Friday when Mallikajurn Kharge filed papers and Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh opted out of the race. Till Thursday night, it was decided that Singh would file papers and contest for the post against Shashi Tharoor.

Nevertheless, on Friday morning, he decided to stay away from the contest and to become proposer for the Kharge. The election will be held on October 17 and the results will be out on October 19. Now, the contest is between Kharge and Tharoor.

Singh said, “Kharge is our senior leader. So, I have told him that I will be your proposer and my commitment is towards the Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi family.”  Similarly, another Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said he would sign the papers for Kharge. Kharge, who is the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, filed papers after holding a meeting with the party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi. Singh also met Kharge before opting out of the race.

There was a meeting of G-23 leaders at the house of Anand Sharma late Thursday night, but it was not known what had transpired at the meeting. In a tweet, Manish Tiwari, one of the members of G-23 group, said that it was the time to strengthen the party and that what happened in Rajasthan was unfortunate.

Kharge filing the nominations has dispelled doubts over who will be Congress president. The confusion over the choice of a candidate against Shashi Tharoor continued after Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was out of the race because of the political drama that took place in Rajasthan over the choice of chief minister. Ninety-three legislators threatened to resign after the party decided to make Sachin Pilot as the successor of Gehlot in Rajasthan.

Gehlot tendered an apology to Sonia Gandhi and opted out of the contest. After that, former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Digviyaja Singh threw his hat in the ring, and, till Thursday night, he said he would contest the party president’s election. Meanwhile, party treasurer Pawan Bansal bought a nomination form, but he said he had bought it for someone else. There were media reports that Bansal would be the Congress president. Therefore, there were three contestants – Singh, Tharoor and Bansal. But surprise awaited everyone when Kharge filed papers on Friday. Political observers say it happened the way Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a surprise to the opposition by putting Droupodi Murmu as presidential candidate.

   

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