Shashi Tharoor told reporters in Hyderabad that he would not quit because many delegates, party workers, and people were supporting him.
Published Oct 03, 2022 | 5:04 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 03, 2022 | 9:13 PM
Shashi Tharoor in Hyderabad. (Supplied)
Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday, 3 October, said he would not withdraw from the contest for Congress president’s post even though his rival in the fray, Rajya Sabha member Mallikahrjun Kharge, seemed to be tipped to win the race.
Tharoor told reporters in Hyderabad that he would not quit because many delegates, party workers, and people were supporting him and urging him to remain in the fray.
He said: “If I withdraw from the contest, I would be letting them down, which I do not want to do.”
Tharoor, however, also said he had enormous respect for Kharge and he did not see him as his rival.
He said Kharge was a towering personality who had done great service to the party and the people.
Kharge had been elected to Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, and Assembly several times and he was a highly respected leader in the party, said Tharoor.
He also made it clear that there was no official candidate in the election.
The Gandhi family was not endorsing anyone as it had decided to remain neutral, which he liked.
“We need to reinvent and reimagine the party to face the BJP,” said Tharoor.
Namaskar Hyderabad & thanks for the rousing reception on my arrival! #ThinkTomorrowThinkTharoor pic.twitter.com/siMhmtaBhC
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 2, 2022
Kharge on Sunday said though he wanted the election to take place unopposed, Tharoor had decided to be in the fray as he believed that contest was always good for democracy.
Tharoor, in reply to a question, said that there were no differences of opinion among the leaders on the party’s ideology, principles, and philosophy. The contest was for electing one who could take the Congress forward effectively in realising the objectives of the party.
He said the task before the contestants now was to explain how they intended to take on the BJP in the next elections.
“We should be able to get back the voters who strayed to the BJP in 2014 and 2019. I have my vision, and Kharge has his. It is for the voters to decide whose vision would be useful to the party,” he said.
Interestingly, irrespective of who wins the election, the fact remains that Congress would get a president from South India after more than a quarter of a century.
To another question, he dismissed the G-23 group as a media creation.
“On that day in 2020, a letter was sent to the Congress president seeking to overhaul the party apparatus. There were only 23 leaders in Delhi at that time as the Covid-19 lockdown was in force,” he explained.
He did not see himself as part of the group because no such group had ever existed, added Tharoor.
