Shashi Tharoor wants free and fair elections of Congress chief to legitimise the mandate being offered to the incoming president !
The senior Congress leader, extremely articulate, author of several books, former UN Under secretary General and member of the G- 23 group favouring reforms in the grand old party Congress has written a hard hitting article in Matrabhoomi newspaper highlighting various ongoing ills in the 137 year old party and need to revitalise it forthwith mentioning his views on the election of the new president to be held on 19 th October. Being seen as one of the probable candidates among others like Ashok Gehlot and Malikarjun Kharge, considered to be the Nehru family loyalists since Rahul Gandhi has refused to contest as the Congress president, Shashi Tharoor of G 23 group in his article in Matribhoomi calling Ghulam nabi Azad as a respected veteran leader wrote : In the aftermath of the resignation of respected veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad from the Congress party many see the party in crisis. This latest in a steady spate of departures has been fuelling incessant media speculation and a daily dose of obituaries for the party. This trend of continuous departures has badly demoralised the Congress workers who are already disappointed with the election results. He further writes that he personally regrets the departures of these valued colleagues he wanted them to stay in the party and reform it.
He adds : As a signatory of the so called G 23 letter I should say that it reflected the concerns building up over many months among party members and well wishers who wanted a re-energised Congress. These concerns were about party reforming not about its ideology wrote Shashi Tharoor. Clearing the stand of the G 23 group, he being one of the signatories to the letter Shashi Tharoor clarified: Our only intention was to strengthen and revive the party not to weaken it. We sought an effective Congress Party to challenge what the BJP is doing in the country wrote Shashi Tharoor in his Matrabhoomi article.
Emphasising on the party leadership to offer public clarity as Congress is still a strong force in the country Shashi Tharoor wrote : Despite all this there is no reason to write off Congress Party Party as Congress is the only party to offer credible alternative to BJP with its strong pan Indian presence.
However, Tharoor did wrote about the leadership vaccum at the top which did had a damaging effect on the party though assuring of optimism writing that in the aftermath of many difficult moments in the past the grand old party displayed an immense capacity to weather change, to pivot itself to the evolving political context of the time, and to bounce back to the victory each time.
Expressing his reservations on not calling the date for the elections of CWC members though announcing the date of national party chief Shashi Tharoor wrote that today the key decision making body within the Congress, the CWC has announced an election schedule for the President of the party, on October 19 th, ideally it should have announced elections also for the dozen seats on CWC itself which are supposed to be elected.
He added : Allowing members from the party, drawn from the AICC and PCC delegates, to determine who will lead the party from these key positions, would have helped legitimise the incoming set of leaders and give them a credible mandate to lead the party.
He further writes : While the party as a while is in need of the renewal, the most urgent leadership position that needs to be fulfilled is naturally that of Congress president.
Emphasising on the need to revitalise the party which is in deep crisis Shashi Tharoor said given the current state of the party, the perception of crisis and the national picture whoever assumes the mantle of president undoubtedly need to achieve the twin goals of energising the Congress party workers and inspiring the voters.
While dwelling on the free and fair elections of the party chief Shashi Tharoor in his Matrabhoomi article writes : free n fair elections would be a healthy way to go about to settling the issue as it would legitimise the mandate being offered to the incoming president.
Tharoor is of the strong view that by fixing the current leadership vaccum and institutionalising a process through which the Congress worker could have a concrete say in the leaders that represent them at the upper echelons of the party , free and fair elections will give the party a strong footing it needs in the hearts of workers and the general public.
The article has much more in it but the crux of it is that it clearly expresses Shashi Tharoor’s apprehensions about the free and fair conduction of the party chief election of Congress not mentioning for once the name of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi n Priyanka the important pillars of the party unambiguously reflecting his desire to see someone from the non Gandhi Nehru family to lead the grand old party in future.
