A RACE FOR THE PRESIDENCY

There’s been no official declaration yet, but most Congress leaders, offthe record, confirm that there will be at least two candidates for the party’s presidential poll scheduled for October 17—Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot (purportedly backed by the Gandhi family) and Shashi Tharoor, the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram.

- Kaushik Deka

Of course, as with anything connected to the Congress, the two will enter the fray only if ex-party president Rahul Gandhi sticks to his adamant stand that he will not take up the post.

If sources are to be believed, a few other senior leaders are also toying with the idea of contesting. The names being bandied about include former Haryana CM B.S. Hooda, ex-Union ministers Anand Sharma and Manish Tewari, and ex-Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah. Incidentally, Hooda, Sharma and Tewari belong to the rebel group of 23 (G23) leaders who had written to party president Sonia Gandhi in August 2020 seeking organisational reforms and an accou ntable and accessible leadership.

Rahul’s close confidants keep insisting the Gandhi scion will not lay claims to the post, which he quit in 2019 after the disastrous Lok Sabha election performance. His critics say the Gandhi family wants to run the party by proxy, avoiding responsibility for the party’s electoral debacles. That’s the reason, they point out, Sonia has requested fam ily loyalist Gehlot to run. “Only the name changes. The real power remains with the family,” says a CWC member.