Tharoor keeps pot boiling on Cong prez polls, refuses to say 'yes' or 'no' to contest

Senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday appeared to keep the pot boiling over the possibility of him contesting the Congress presidential poll against the official faction's candidate by not denying reports but insisting that an election will be a "good thing" for the party.

Tharoor, an MP from Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram and a key signatory of the controversial letter by the G-23 leaders or change-seekers in 2020, is yet to make a final call on whether to contest or not but he and his close aides were exploring such a possibility.

“The notification for the polls will come in three weeks time. Then I will be able to tell with clarity whether I will be contesting or not. At this point, I am not going to say that I am contesting or I am not contesting. I accept what I have written in my article which is that an election would be a good thing for the Congress party,” Tharoor said on Tuesday, when asked whether he would contest the polls.

Also Read — G-23 gears up for Cong polls, likely to field Tharoor

The comments came a day after he wrote an article in a Malayalam newspaper's website saying the elections are good for the party.

In what appeared to be a politically loaded tweet, Tharoor quoted Swami Vivekananda, "I do not just believe in reform; I believe in growth. I do not dare… to dictate to our society, ‘This way thou shouldst move.’ I simply want to be like the squirrel in the building of Râma's bridge, who was content to offer his little quota of sand-dust -- Swami Vivekananda."

Asked about Tharoor’s reported plans, Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said he was not aware of anything like that but the election schedule has been announced. "If anybody wants to contest, the dates are there. I don't want to say anything more on this. The dates are there, the Constitution of the Congress is there, whatever you deem appropriate, you do it," he added.

Though the writer-politician is certain of a defeat in the organisational election, Tharoor believes that the issues he and other G-23 leaders raised would get amplified in case the group forces a contest.

On Monday, DH reported that the G-23 is preparing itself to take the official faction head-on by forcing a contest for the president post with Tharoor becoming the front-runner.

Sources said that Tharoor is unlikely to fight if former party chief Rahul Gandhi or General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra files nomination. In such a scenario, Tewari is likely to enter the fray.

In his article on Monday, he called for a "free and fair" election and said that the party should have ideally announced the elections to the Congress Working Committee along with that of president.

"Allowing members of the party drawn from the AICC and PCC delegates to determine who will lead the party from these key positions, would have helped legitimise the incoming set of leaders and give them a credible mandate to lead the party. Still, electing a fresh president is a start towards the revitalisation the Congress badly needs," Tharoor said.

Referring to the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom, he said one has seen the "global interest" during their recent leadership race, "a phenomenon we already witnessed in 2019, when a dozen candidates contested to replace Theresa May, and Boris Johnson emerged on top".

"Replicating a similar scenario for the Congress will similarly increase the national interest in the party and galvanise more voters towards the Congress party once again. For this reason, I hope that several candidates come forward to present themselves for consideration. Putting forward their visions for the party and the nation will surely stir public interest," Tharoor said, articulating his support for a contest for the top post.