Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday proposed to hold a public debate with his rival Mallikarjun Kharge in the run-up to the Congress president’s election, saying it would evoke people’s interest in the party similar to the recent British Conservative Party leadership race.
Kharge outright rejected the proposal, saying, “ “I don’t want to get into that, I only know how to work, give me an opportunity to do that.
Tharoor also said the Nehru-Gandhi family has held and will always hold a special place in the hearts of Congress party members. He said the answer to Congress’ current challenges lies in a combination of effective leadership and organisational reforms.
Kharge and Tharoor were left in the fray in the Congress presidential poll after former Jharkhand minister K N Tripathi’s nomination was rejected on Saturday.
Talking about what he brings to the table, Tharoor has he has a “proven and credible track record in leading at the highest levels of organisations, whether it has been at the UN” or more recently for the Congress party as founder-chairman of the All-India Professionals’ Congress.
At the UN, Tharoor said, “as the under-secretary-general in charge of the body’s public information department, I managed the communications of the UN’s largest department comprising of over 800 staff in 77 offices worldwide, rationalized its structure, trimmed its budget and sharpened its efforts – all of which prompted many to urge me to contest to lead the UN Organisation itself”.
Referring to the All-India Professionals’ Congress, he said, “I had to create from scratch and which in just five years since 2017 has over 10, 000 fellows from across 20 states in the country.”
In terms of organisational reforms, the former Union minister said, he has outlined a set of priorities that he believes can help strengthen the Congress and take on the machinery of the BJP.
“Since our current situation is widely deplored, it may be an advantage not to be burdened by the baggage of having spent too much time in the present party organisation and be able to approach it from a fresh perspective,” the 66-year-old leader said.
Asked if he would want a public debate between the party’s presidential candidates as is seen in many western democracies and if such an exercise would help delegates make up their minds, Tharoor said, “I would be open to the idea.”
Tharoor insisted that “there are no ideological differences among us; rather, it is a question of how we propose to go about achieving the objectives we already agree upon.”
Batting for a public debate, he said between the last date for submission of nominations and the date for polls, there are roughly about two-and-a-half weeks and it would be practically and logistically difficult to reach out to all the 9,000-odd delegates who are eligible to vote in these elections, he argued.