- Wednesday, January 15, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
The race for the president of the Indian National Congress, India’s major opposition party, continued to witness twists even on the final day of filing nomination, which was Friday (30).
On the day, parliamentarian Digvijaya Singh, who had given a hint on entering the fray, said he was dropping out of the contest and announced his support for Mallikarjun Kharge, who filed his nomination the same day. The 80-year-old is the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha or Upper House of the Indian parliament and has been a former central minister who looked after key ministries such as railways.
Parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor also filed his nomination on Friday. He said he wanted to become the voice of the party’s workers and was against a centralised model.
Congress President assured me that the party has no official candidate, the Gandhi family will stay neutral in this race & they welcome as many candidates as possible. In that spirit, I put forward my candidacy. It's not to disrespect anyone; a friendly contest: Shashi Tharoor pic.twitter.com/haqP7wZUsn
— ANI (@ANI) September 30, 2022
While Singh had said on Thursday (29) that he would file nomination on Friday, he decided to pull out after reports came out that Kharge was also mulling contesting. Singh made his announcement after meeting Kharge on Friday morning at the latter’s residence.
He later told reporters in New Delhi that he could not “think of contesting an election” against a senior leader such as Kharge, who is five years senior to him.
“Kharge is my leader and my senior. I went to his residence yesterday and asked if he is contesting. If he does, I will not fill up the form. He said he did not intend to contest. I came to know through the media that he is a candidate. I went to meet him this morning. I said if he is filing the nomination, I am with him. He is a senior and respected leader of the party and I cannot think of contesting an election against him,” he said.
“If Kharge had told me earlier, he would not have gone to collect the form. Now he intends to file his nomination, I will become his proposer,” Singh added.
Singh is the second Congress leader to pull out of the race after Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot who said a day ago that he would not contest the polls following a political ruckus in his state. He made the announcement after meeting interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi who the new president would succeed.
Meanwhile, Congress leader from Jharkhand KN Tripathi also filed his nomination and said he would respect the party’s decision.
Delhi | I have filed my nomination today for the party president post. Party leaders' decision will be respected: Jharkhand Congress leader KN Tripathi pic.twitter.com/kPrKYbJLt2
— ANI (@ANI) September 30, 2022
The election will be held on October 17 and the result will be announced on October 19.
No member of the Gandhi family, which has remained the power centre of the Congress over decades, will contest the election.
