Congress president polls: Tharoor drops a hint in Hindi, Sudhakaran says he’s qualified

Thiruvananthapuram: Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday dropped yet another hint about his interest to contest for the post of Congress president.

During a brief interaction with media on the sidelines of an event here, Tharoor reiterated that an election would only be good for the party.

However, it was his switching over to Hindi during the interaction that made his intentions clear. Asked if the party president has to be someone from the Hindi belt, Tharoor responded in Hindi that if a person from that region should be the president then he has to come through election.

“It’s important to be an Indian,” the Thiruvananthapuram MP, who belongs to the group of leaders that has been calling for reforms in the party, said.

Speculations about Tharoor’s possible candidature started doing the rounds after it became almost clear that nobody from the Nehru-Gandhi family would be in the fray.

Party president Sonia Gandhi, who took charge as an interim chief after her son Rahul Gandhi quit the post following the rout in the 2019 parliament elections, has reportedly asked senior leader and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to run for the post.

Meanwhile, state Congress chief K Sudhakaran on Wednesday said Tharoor is qualified to contest for the party's presidential election.

Sudhakaran said if Tharoor wishes to contest the polls he can do that as the Congress is a democratic party and its members have the right to contest for the top party post. "What is there to wonder about? Is he not an eligible candidate? All members of the Indian National Congress have the right to contest as it is a democratic party. If I wish to contest, I could also do that. The party will accept it. If I get the votes, I will win," Sudhakaran told reporters here. He said the Congress has the strength to address such issues through the democratic process.

Amid the speculation over his possible candidature, Tharoor on Tuesday had said he would decide whether to throw his hat in the ring only after the election notification came out. At the same time, Tharoor has also termed as "only speculation" the reports about the possibility of him contesting for the party president's post.

The Congress Working Committee on Sunday decided to hold the election for the party's full-time president on October 17. The notification for the election will be issued on September 22, while the filing of nominations would begin on September 24 and continue till September 30, the party's central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry had said after a nearly 30-minute meeting of the CWC.

(With inputs from PTI)