Race for Congress president hotting up
The race for the post of Congress president is shaping up to be an exciting one. It will be the first time after 24 years that a non-Gandhi would be elected Congress president. From the look of it currently, it is going to be a Gehlot versus Tharoor fight. The Gandhis—Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka—have excused themselves off, but they have the family loyalist, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot holding up their side. Both have already taken the nomination forms from the Congress office.
The electors for the party president’s post are the Pradesh Congress Committee members from various states. After a sustained demand by Shashi Tharoor, the party election committee, in an effort to uphold transparency, has decided to publish the list of electors.
Though separated by just five years—Ashok Gehlot is 71 and Shashi Tharoor is 66—the former is seen as the grizzled veteran and the latter as the representative of youth, with the latter’s impressive articulateness helping in creating that image.
But it must be understood that, by most assumptions, the Gandhi family, and therefore, by extension, Gehlot has the support of the majority. But will Shashi Tharoor be able to upset the apple cart?
For that, one would have to wait till October 19, when the result would be published. The nominations started on September 24, and will continue till the 30th.
Sitaram Kesri, the last non-Gandhi to lead Indian National Congress, had to end his presidential tenure in 1998 in utter humiliation, having to face the ire of the Congress supporters at the party’s headquarters in New Delhi on his last day in office, and forced to make a hasty exit. One can only hope that the next president would be blessed with a better fate.
