‘Congress will emerge stronger under his leadership’: Gehlot on Kharge’s new role as party chief

New Delhi: Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday said that it was a moment of pride that veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge had been elected Congress President and the party would strengthen and revive under his leadership.

Reacting to the results of the Congress presidential poll, Gehlot said that the Congress party was united across the country as the results of the election for the new party chief indicated. “It’s a moment of pride that Mallikarjun Kharge has become the Congress President, he is an experienced leader. The Congress will strengthen under his leadership and our party is united across the country,” Gehlot said after the results were declared at the AICC headquarters earlier in the day.

Since the end of September, the 80-year-old Kharge was believed to be the clear favourite for the post in a two-cornered contest against former Union minister Shashi Tharoor. The veteran leader won 84 per cent of the votes cast on Monday. He won 7,897 votes while Tharoor garnered just 1,072 votes.

Despite building his election campaign around the much needed change that the Congress party needs, Tharoor as expected lost the poll to Kharge, who entered the fray on the last day of filing nominations.

The Congress presidential poll campaign witnessed many twists and turns since it was announced. Earlier Gehlot was one of the top contenders for the party chief’s post but had to withdraw his candidature after an internal crisis in the Rajasthan unit of the party caused a difference of opinion with the Congress high command. Rumour has it that it was then that Sonia Gandhi requested Kharge, a Gandhi family loyalist to contest the polls.

Over the last few years, the Gandhi family blamed repeatedly for back-to-back poll debacles, decided to stay away from the organisational polls of the party and insisted that senior leaders contest for the party chief’s post.

Since Independence, the Congress has traditionally been led by a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family. Organisational elections have only been held six times, the first being in 1939 when Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose defeated P Sitaramayya, a candidate chosen by Mahatma Gandhi.

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