Cong President Polls: Shashi Tharoor, Mallikarjun Kharge and K.N. Tripathi File Nomination
GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 30th Sept. After weeks of deliberation, three senior Congress leaders – Mallikarjun Kharge, Shashi Tharoor, and K N Tripathi – filed their nominations for Congress president on Friday.
Mallikarjun Kharge, a veteran Congressman, was the most recent to join the fray. He is thought to be the official choice of the party. He will resign as Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition in accordance with the Congress’ ‘one person, one post’ rule, which was enacted following the ‘Chintan Shivir’ held earlier this year in Rajasthan’s Udaipur.
Digvijay Singh, the Congress leader who had collected nomination papers on Thursday, has dropped out of the race and is supporting Kharge.
KN Tripathi was the first to file nominations on the final day, followed by Shashi Tharoor and Mallikarjun Kharge.
Mallikarjun Kharge was joined in filing his nomination by Ashok Gehlot, Digvijay Singh, Rajeev Shukla, Salman Khursheed, Pawan Bansal, Tariq Anwar, and Anand Sharma.
The leaders arrived at the All India Congress Committee office, accompanied by supporters and workers.
Previously, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was the frontrunner, but he backed out due to a political crisis in his state. The central leadership has issued a show cause notice to Gehlot’s three loyalists for alleged indiscipline.
For the first time in over 24 years, someone other than the Gandhi family will lead the party.
Sitaram Kesri, who served as Prime Minister from 1996 to 1998, was the last person elected from outside the Gandhi family.
The election for the position of party president is set for October 17. Over 9,000 electoral votes will be cast, and voting will take place at Pradesh Congress Committee offices.
KN Tripathi left the Indian Air Force to pursue a career in politics. He ran for the Daltonganj Assembly segment in Jharkhand for the first time on a Congress ticket in 2005, but lost. Later that year, in 2009, he contested again and won. Tripathi was appointed to the Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.
Mallikarjun Kharge, a Dalit leader and staunch party supporter, is close to all three Gandhis — Sonia, Rahul, and Priyanka. Kharge, a politician with over 45 years of experience, has steadily advanced in his career. Kharge is also well-known in Karnataka. Kharge contested in the 2009 general elections from the Gulbarga Parliamentary constituency and won for the tenth time.
Shashi Tharoor represents Thiruvananthapuram in the Lok Sabha. He is also a former Indian foreign civil servant. Tharoor is currently serving his third term in the Lok Sabha.
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