Octogenarian Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, a Dalit face of the party from poll-bound Karnataka, may have to shoulder the onerous responsibility of reviving the grand old party from its present state of morass and decadence.
The Congress High Command on Friday tabled its “trump card” after it pulled out of the race its first choice Ashok Gehlot for backing the rebel MLAs in Rajasthan against the Central leadership.
Kharge will take on his Southern colleague Shashi Tharoor and former Jharkhand Minister KN Tripathi in the AICC presidential race for which nominations came to an end on Friday. But since the entire party, including the G-23 groups of dissenters, is backing Kharge, his victory seems a mere formality.
The candidature of Kharge, believed to have been backed by Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi, has unified the party in a big way. The Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha also received the support of the members of the G-23 group comprising Anand Sharma, Prithviraj Chavan, Manish Tewari, and Bhupinder Hooda who have been clamouring for a change in the organisational setup.
At eighty years of age, Kharge is seen as a safe bet for the Gandhis. A senior leader said Kharge will not have long-term ambition which can come in the way of Rahul Gandhi. At the same time, the party could use him to mobilise Dalit votes, especially in the forthcoming Karnataka polls.
Kharge is also expected to play a major role in unifying the faction-ridden party since he shared excellent relationships with the majority of the senior leaders. Party’s chief election manager Madhusudan Mistry, said none of the three —Mallikarjun Kharge, Shashi Tharoor, and KN Tripathi — are the party’s official candidates and they are contesting on their own.
“The Gandhi family has not endorsed anyone,” Mistry said at an AICC press conference. Mistry said they have received a total of 20 nomination forms, of which 14 were by Mallikarjun Kharge, five by Shashi Tharoor, and one by Jharkhand Congress leader KN Tripathi. “Saturday scrutiny of forms will be done and then announce valid candidates’ names,” Mistry said. His candidature was proposed by party leaders Ashok Gehlot, Digvijaya Singh, Pramod Tiwari, PL Punia, AK Antony, Pawan Kumar Bansal and Mukul Wasnik.
Kharge is one of the most experienced persons in the party and is a Dalit leader too, Tewari said. This will be the first time in two decades that a non-Gandhi leader will head the Congress at the national level. Rahul has time and said that no member of the Gandhi family will contest the party president’s poll. By making way for a non-Gandhi to lead the party, Rahul hopes to blunt the edge of the “dynasty” charge the BJP repeatedly funds at the Congress “first family” and the party.
Digvijaya who was reportedly instructed by Gandhis a day earlier to get in the race for the polls and file nominations, gave another twist to the week-long drama when he announced that he will not contest the election and would instead propose the candidature of his senior Kharge. Singh had expressed his inclination to contest the top party post and had collected 10 sets of nomination papers on Thursday.
Kharge appeared to be a clear favourite for the Congress presidential election as a galaxy of leaders were present by his side when he filed his nomination papers at the AICC headquarters. “I was encouraged by all leaders, party workers, and delegates from key states to contest the elections. I thank those who were present by my side at the time of filing the nomination papers,” Kharge told reporters.
No one from the Gandhi family was present at the AICC headquarters when the leaders filed their nominations for the election. “I have always been fighting this battle and I am keen to fight more to uphold the ideals of the Congress party with which I have been associated since my childhood,” Kharge said. Friday was the last day for filing nomination papers. Over 9,100 delegates are eligible to cast their votes in the October 17 election. The result will be announced on October 19. Interestingly party’s communication chief Jairam Ramesh said he did not know if there would be a party presidential election on October 17, as the last date for withdrawal of nomination is not over yet.
Tharoor, who was also part of the G-23 group, filed five sets of nomination papers, while Tripathi filed a single set of poll papers with Mistry, the chairman of the Congress’s Central Election Authority. Tharoor, 66, described his electoral opponent Kharge as the ‘Bhishma Pitamah’ of the party. “It is a privilege to serve the only party in India with an open democratic process to choose its leader,” Tharoor said after filing his nomination papers. “It is a friendly contest that is going to happen. We are not enemies or rivals. No disrespect to him but I will represent my ideas,” the Lok Sabha member from Thiruvananthapuram told reporters.