Has Tharoor embraced defeat? His cryptic tweet gives a hint; polling concludes: Top updates on Congress president poll

Members of the Congress queued up across the country today to elect their first non-Gandhi president in 24 years, with the contest between senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor aimed at putting the party on the path to revival. 

"I have been waiting for a long time for this day," Congress chief Sonia Gandhi told reporters after voting at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in Delhi. 

Meanwhile, Tharoor posted a cryptic tweet today which led to speculations whether the Thiruvananthapuram MP had anticipated defeat in the contest where Kharge is seen as the unofficial official candidate of the party, with an evident backing of the Gandhis. 

Shortly before the polling started across the country to choose the next party chief, Tharoor posted an ambiguous quote in Hindi, saying “we fight some battles only so that history can remember that the present was not silent."

He had said that several PCC chiefs and senior leaders were not available for a meeting with him during his visits to their respective states, but they warmed up to Kharge when he visited them for support.

On his "uneven playing field" remark, Tharoor had said, "...In several PCCs, leaders welcomed and met Kharge Sahab. The same was not done for me. I visited PCCs but PCC chiefs were not available. I am not complaining, but do you not see a difference in treatment?"

After several names doing the round and Ashok Gehlot pulling out of the race following the political fiasco in Rajasthan, the Gandhis are believed to have asked Kharge to fight the contest against Tharoor, one of the G-23 members who had signed the letter to Sonia Gandhi, seeking organisational changes in the party. 

The political journeys of the two dramatis personae in the Congress presidential election have been disparate.

Kharge is a grassroots politician and a hardcore loyalist of the Gandhi family while Tharoor, articulate, a social media pioneer and often outspoken, joined the Congress only in 2009 after a long stint at the United Nations.

Kharge was born in a poor family at Varavatti in Bidar district, did his schooling and BA as well as Law in Gulbarga. Tharoor was born in London and studied in Delhi University's St Stephen's College before going to the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in the US for his masters and doctorate.

Though Tharoor raised issues of uneven playing field during the campaign, both candidates as well as the party have maintained the Gandhis are neutral and that there is no "official candidate". The lines during the campaign were clearly drawn.

Ahead of the polling, Kharge had said in Bengaluru that he would have no shame in taking the advice and support of the Gandhi family in running the party affairs, in case he becomes its president.

Tharoor, on his part, took a veiled dig at some senior leaders supporting Kharge, saying in Lucknow that some colleagues were "indulging in 'netagiri' and telling party workers that they know who Sonia Gandhi wants elected.

The last contested election for the post of Congress president was in 2000 when Sonia Gandhi handed Jitendra Prasada a crushing defeat.

The Nehru-Gandhi family has been at the helm of the party for about 40 years in years since Independence. The five family members to take on the mantle of party president are Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.