The cloud of conflict has been cut by the light of harmony within Congress. Party MPs like Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tiwari, and Karti Chidambaram came forward to demand the release of the list of voters for the election of the Congress president or representatives of the AICC. All of them expressed their satisfaction as the acting leader of organizational elections, Madhusudan Mistry, spoke to them and assured them by letter.
Rahul Gandhi’s initiative
Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ from Kanyakumari crossed Tamil Nadu and entered Kerala yesterday. The procession passed through the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat of Tharoor. Tharoor also joined the march. At the same time, Tharoor targeted Narendra Modi-Amit Shah for questioning BJP Rahul’s T-shirt. He complains that Modi-Shah is trying to divert attention from the problem of price increase unemployment by referring to T-shirts or religion.
Tharoor demanded that the list of 9,000 Congress leaders and workers who will vote in the presidential election should be published to maintain transparency in the election. Mistry said that those who want to contest the Congress presidential election will get the list of state representatives from the state Congress office. 10 people will need support from there to submit the nomination. After the submission of nominations, the entire list of 9,000 delegates will be available from the AICC office.
Tharoor’s statement
After receiving Mistry’s letter, Tharoor said that he is happy and satisfied that the whole matter has been clarified. According to him, the organization will be strong if the organizational election process is proper. Ghulam Nabi Azad resigned from Congress and called the presidential election a ‘farce’. He also raised questions about the election process. Later, the angry leader Anand Sharma raised the question in the Congress Working Committee. Manish also supported him. Although Sharma is not opening his mouth now, Manish also expressed his satisfaction yesterday saying, “My only concern was the transparency of the electoral process, not my ambitions or anyone else’s.”
He hinted that Tharoor could contest the presidential election from among the G23, a group of disaffected Congress leaders. Tharoor did not want to open up about it yesterday. “This smile is my answer. Everything will be known when the nomination time comes,” he said with a smile. According to sources, the Congress high command still wants to appoint Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot as the president.
Along with this, Dalit leader Mukul Wasnik has been relieved from the Madhya Pradesh post in AICC and speculations have started around his name. Many believe that Mukul can be given the importance of organization.
With the soft tone of aggrieved leaders like Tharoor and Manish, Congress leaders feel that “Rahul’s entry into the Bharat Jodo Yatra will also erase the factionalism within the party. On the other hand, the way BJP leaders, starting from Shah, and Smriti Irani, are targeting Rahul, it is clear that they are worried too. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the BJP leadership is afraid and is trying to show Rahul as anti-Hindu sometimes.