Congress President Polls: Will Tharoor throw his hat in the ring? His call for 'free and fair' contest sparks buzz

The Gandhis’ reluctance to take up the post of Congress president has once again sparked buzz on whether the party could finally have a non-Gandhi chief on its road to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The last non-Gandhi president was Sitaram Kesari who was unceremoniously removed from office when the leadership decided to anoint Sonia Gandhi in his place in 1999.

While the Congress has not seen a contest for the party president post in the last 23 years, it could see one this time. According to sources quoted by The Indian Express, Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor is considering contesting the polls. 

Tharoor, a signatory to the letter that 23 senior leaders had written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in August 2020 seeking changes in the party’s functioning, is said to have discussed the idea with some of his colleagues, but is yet to take a final call. 

While Tharoor did not reveal if he will be throwing his hat in the ring this time, he indicated towards the same with his article published in a Malayalam daily. 

“Ideally it should have announced elections also for the dozen seats on the CWC itself which are supposed to be elected. 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,” he wrote in Mathrubhumi English on Monday.

“It could also have other beneficial effects – for instance, we have seen the global interest in the British Conservative Party 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,” he wrote.

While noting that Congress supporters were dismayed by Rahul Gandhi’s refusal to contest and his statement that no member from the family should replace him, Tharoor called for a free and fair election process. 

The last time a contest took place for the post of party president was in 2001, when Jitendra Prasada took on Sonia Gandhi. Prasada could get only 94 votes, against the 7,448 votes that Sonia got.

The speculations on Tharoor, a G-23 member, mulling contesting the Congress president post come amid reports that Sonia Gandhi offered Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot to take up the job. 

If the 71-year-old Gehlot, backed by Gandhis, files his nomination, it is quite possible that the G-23 grouping could also field a candidate to challenge him. 

In case a non-Gandhi is chosen as the party president, the Gandhis will not only be getting rid of the long-pending issue of leadership void, but will also be able to silence the criticism of familism and dynasty politics by getting a party chief outside of the Nehru-Gandhi family.

Facing internal upheaval, the Congress on Sunday announced that the election for its president would be held on October 17, asserting that it is the only party in the country which follows such a democratic exercise.

The result will be declared on October 19. If only one candidate is left in the fray after the withdrawal of nominations, the name of the president will be declared on October 8 itself, the party's Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry said after a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC).