Tharoor rejected proposal for consensus candidate: Kharge

NEW DELHI: Nominee for the Congress president post Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday said he told fellow contender Shashi Tharoor that it would be better to have a consensus candidate, but the Lok Sabha MP insisted on a contest for the “sake of democracy”.

Kharge said if he becomes the party chief, he will consult the Gandhi family and other senior leaders and implement the good things suggested by them, even as he rejected claims that he was the “official candidate” backed by the Gandhis. Launching his Congress presidential poll campaign with a press conference at his residence here, 80-year-old Kharge said there is no G-23 camp now and all those leaders want to fight unitedly against the RSS-BJP and therefore are supporting him.

Several dissident leaders such as Bhupinder Hooda, Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari and Prithviraj Chavan of the group of 23, which had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi in 2020 for large scale organisational reform, have put their weight behind Kharge by becoming his proposers instead of backing Tharoor who was a prominent member of the grouping.

Meanwhile, Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said he would be open to the idea of a public debate between the candidates as it would evoke people’s interest in the party similar to the recent British Conservative Party leadership race.

Asked about Tharoor’s remarks, Kharge, however, said the two were from the same family and there was no point of holding such a debate. “I don’t want to get into that, I only know how to work, give me an opportunity to do that,” he said, adding they don’t have to fight each other as their struggle is against the BJP.

Tharoor also said the Nehru-Gandhi family has held and will always hold a special place in the hearts of Congress party members.

He said the answer to the Congress’ current challenges lies in a combination of effective leadership and organisational reforms.

Talking about what he brings to the table, Tharoor has he has a “proven and credible track record in leading at the highest levels of organisations, whether it has been at the UN” or more recently for the Congress party as founder-chairman of the All-India Professionals’ Congress.

“Since our current situation is widely deplored, it may be an advantage not to be burdened by the baggage of having spent too much time in the present party organisation and be able to approach it from a fresh perspective,” the 66-year-old leader said.