New Delhi: Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor is likely to run for the top AICC post if no one from the Gandhi family contests the party presidential election.
Parleys are on in G-23, the group of 23 senior reformist party leaders, to field Tharoor against a non-Gandhi candidate. In case the former diplomat-turned-politician is unwilling to contest, Manish Tewari, the MP representing Anandpur Sahib in the Lok Sabha, would be the group's candidate. Tewri is likely to contest even against Rahul Gandhi.
G-23 refers to the group of 23 Congress MPs who wrote a letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi in 2020 asking for stronger leadership and internal party reform.
Though the group has not made a final decision on challenging the party high command's candidate, the leaders felt that a contest is necessary to make the issues the Congress has been facing and their solutions, a talking point within the party.
Fielding a candidate is part of the group's declared intention of putting the party back on its tracks. The reformist group, G-23, was formed in August 2020. Ghulam Nabi Azad, one of the vocal leaders of G-23, had recently quit the Congress.
A majority in G-23 opined that the practice of backing the high command's candidate should not be allowed this time. They felt that the issues in the Congress will not be debated if a contest is avoided, and challenging the high command's candidate will help in raising those issues before the top leadership.
The group also felt that the candidates should be accountable and answerable to the party workers. If the precedence of electing the high command's candidate is followed, the candidate will lack responsibility as the party president.
The Congress presidential election is slated for October 17. If there is only one candidate, that person will be declared winner on October 8, the last date for withdrawing the nomination papers. The G-23 is trying to avoid such a situation.
