Mallikarjun Kharge PM face remark: Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who is presently contesting the party presidential election against Shashi Tharoor, believes in focussing on one work at a time, quite literally. Kharge, who has repeatedly, said in public that he and Tharoor should not be compared, has once again made it clear his prime objective at the moment is to win the race for Congress president post.
If elected, will he be the obvious choice as prime ministerial candidate too? Kharge, 80, doesn't want to think that far, however, he neither ruled out anything.
"There is a saying "Bakrid mein bachenge toh Muharram mein nachenge". First, let these elections get over and let me become president, then we'll see," Kharge told reporters when asked who would be the PM's face, Rahul Gandhi or he.
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Fight for Congress presidentship
Voting for Congress president election is scheduled to take place on October 17. Both Kharge and Tharoor have been canvassing hard, however, party insiders say Kharge has an edge and undeclared support of the Gandhis too.
Amid calls for a young leadership from within the party, Kharge had recently said that he would implement the Udaipur Declaration's proposal of offering 50 per cent of party posts to those below 50 years of age if he wins the president poll.
"It's not for post in Congress. Many people who left, they left due to fear of ED, CBI, and income tax. For youngsters, as I said, in the Udaipur Declaration, we promised to give 50 per cent of seats to those below 50 years and I will do. When everyone is wanting to make me occupy this place, I thank them," he told reporters in Hyderabad.
He was replying to a query about the argument that 80-year-old Kharge is replacing Sonia Gandhi, who is 75 years old, and that a young leader should lead the Congress.
Tharoor rejected Kharge's call for consensus candidate
Mallikarjun Kharge has said that he told fellow contender Shashi Tharoor that it would be better to have a consensus candidate, but the Lok Sabha MP insisted on a contest for the "sake of democracy".
Kharge said if he becomes the party chief, he will consult the Gandhi family and other senior leaders and implement the good things suggested by them, even as he rejected claims that he was the "official candidate" backed by the Gandhis.
Several dissident leaders such as Bhupinder Hooda, Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari and Prithviraj Chavan of the group of 23, which had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi in 2020 for large scale organisational reform, have put their weight behind Kharge by becoming his proposers instead of backing Tharoor, 66, who was a prominent member of the grouping.
