Congress president election: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor's meeting with Sonia Gandhi for taking permission to contest for the party's top post has gone too well with many fellow party men. AICC general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh taking an apparent dig at the ThiruvananthapuramMP said, 'Nobody needs anybody's nod to contest.'
Tharoor on Monday met Sonia Gandhi and expressed his intention to contest the upcoming AICC chief polls, while the Congress president conveyed that she would stay "neutral" in the elections, sources said. Gandhi welcomed the idea of more people contesting the polls and dispelled the notion that there would be an "official candidate", they said. The feedback by Gandhi on Tharoor's desire to contest is being seen by many as an encouragement to him to contest and he could announce his candidature in the next few days.
On this Ramesh tweeted, "Entire party is busy trying to make #BharatJodoYatra a success. Yet it is important to reiterate. Any member is welcome to contest the election of Congress President. It is a democratic and transparent process. No one's approval is needed, especially the party leadership, to contest elections."
Meanwhile, the 'Make Rahul Gandhi AICC president again' chorus is growing louder in the Congress with over half a dozen state units so far seeking his elevation to the top post, even as uncertainty and suspense persisted over whether he would take on the mantle. After Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat units of the Congress demanded that Gandhi be made party chief, the party's Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir and Mumbai units passed resolutions calling for his elevation to the post of president on Monday.
