Shashi Tharoor may run for Congress president post soon: Report

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor is exploring the possibility of running for the post of Congress president, though he is yet to take a final call on it, sources said. They said he has not made up his mind, but could take a call on it soon.

Although Tharoor declined to comment on whether he would throw his hat into the his latest article in the Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi has generated buzz that he may be planning to run for the post of party president.

In the article, he said ideally the party should have announced elections also for the dozen seats on the Congress Working Committee (CWC) itself which are supposed to be elected.

"Allowing members of the party drawn from the AICC and PCC delegates to determine who will lead the party from these key positions, would have helped legitimize the incoming set of leaders and give them a credible mandate to lead the party," said Tharoor, who was among the group of 23 leaders who wrote to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in 2020 seeking organizational reforms.

"Still, electing a fresh president is a start towards the revitalization the Congress badly needs," the MP from Thiruvananthapuram said.

Tharoor said the election also has other beneficial effects -- for instance, "we have seen the global interest in the British Conservative Party during their recent leadership race, a phenomenon we already witnessed in 2019, when a dozen candidates contested to replace Theresa May, and Boris Johnson emerged on top".

Replicating a similar scenario for the Congress will similarly increase the national interest in the party and galvanize more voters towards the Congress party once again, he said in the article.

"For this reason, I hope that several candidates come forward to present themselves for consideration. Putting forward their visions for the party and the nation will surely stir public interest," he wrote.

While the party as a whole is in need of renewal, the most urgent leadership position that needs to be filled is naturally that of the Congress president, Tharoor said.

"He or she should have a plan to fix what ails the party, as well as a vision for India. After all, a political party is an instrument to serve the country, not an end in itself," he said.

"Either way, a free and fair election process would be a healthy way to go about settling the issue. It would legitimise the mandate being offered to the incoming president," he said.

Facing internal upheaval, the Congress on Sunday announced that the election for its president would be held on October 17, asserting that it is the only party in the country which follows such a democratic exercise.

The result will be declared on October 19.

The notification for the election will be issued on September 22, while the filing of nomination would begin on September 24 and continue till September 30.