Congress President election: Shashi Tharoor is back, will start election campaign from Nagpur today

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor visiting the Deekshabhoomi memorial here on Saturday Party presidential election Let’s start our promotional campaign. Maharashtra Congress leader Ashish Deshmukh told that Tharoor would pay homage to Deekshabhoomi, where Dr. BR Ambedkar had converted to Buddhism along with his followers in 1956. Deshmukh has arranged for Thiruvananthapuram MP Tharoor’s visit here. Tharoor, 66, on Friday filed his nomination for the post of Congress President in Delhi.

According to his itinerary, Tharoor will reach Nagpur airport at 4:50 pm on Saturday evening and will leave for Deekshabhoomi, where he will pay tribute to Dr. Ambedkar and later address a press conference. On Sunday, Tharoor will visit Mahatma Gandhi’s Sevagram Ashram in Wardha at 9 am and later visit Vinoba Bhave’s ashram in Pawanar. He will return to Nagpur around 12 noon and hold meetings with senior Congress leaders, party’s state unit members and workers.

Tharoor has the support of many leaders

Deshmukh said, “Tharoor is a popular Congress MP, who has done remarkable work for the country at the international level. The election of the Congress President’s post is an important step for decentralization in the party. Deshmukh also claimed that Congress delegates in 12 states have openly supported Tharoor and he is getting the support of party leaders and workers across the country. Significantly, in the race for the post of Congress President, Mallikarjun Kharge, Shashi Tharoor and K. N. Tripathi has come forward. All three filed their nomination papers on Friday.

Kharge emerged as the preferred candidate

Senior leader Kharge, who hails from Karnataka, has clearly emerged as the preferred candidate. Tripathi, the third candidate in the fray, is a former minister of Jharkhand. Kharge, 80, submitted 14 sets of nomination papers along with top Congress leaders. His proponents include Ashok Gehlot, Digvijay Singh, AK Antony, Ambika Soni, Mukul Wasnik. Apart from this, among his proponents are leaders like Anand Sharma, Prithviraj Chavan, Manish Tewari and Bhupendra Hooda, who have been part of the G-23, a group of leaders demanding change in the party.

Tharoor-Kharge clash!

Tharoor himself has also been involved in G-23. He filed five sets of nomination papers. On the other hand, Tripathi, a former Jharkhand minister, filed a set of nomination papers before the chairman of the Congress’s Central Election Authority, Madhusudan Mistry. Kharge, considered the preferred candidate in the race for the post of Congress president, was accompanied by several party leaders while filing his nomination papers at the AICC headquarters here. Many G-23 leaders are supporting Kharge and many MPs also signed Kharge’s papers. At the same time, among Tharoor’s supporters, there were some leaders like Karti Chidambaram, Mohammad Javed and Pradyut Bordoloi.

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(with agency input)