A day after the Shashi Tharoor camp alleged that there were extremely serious irregularities in Uttar Pradesh during the Congress president election on Wednesday, Congress’ central election authority (CEA) chairman Madhusudhan Mistry hit back at Shashi Tharoor and slammed him ‘for going to media with a different face’ and making allegations against the CEA.
“I am sorry to say that you had one face before me which communicated that you’re satisfied with all our answers & different face in the media which made all these allegations against us,” Madhusudhan Mistry said in a detailed response to Shashi Tharoor.
Mistry’s response came after Salman Soz, the chief election agent of Shashi Tharoor alleged that the Congress president election process in Uttar Pradesh was ‘devoid of credibility and integrity’. Among several allegations levelled by the Tharoor camp include – use of unofficial seals and ballot boxes, presence of unofficial persons at booths, casting votes of delegates who were not in Lucknow besides others.
Shashi Tharoor vs Mallikarjun Kharge: The unexpected turn
In his four page response, Mistry said that the CEA accommodated Tharoor’s request despite which he went to media alleging Central Election Authority was conspiring against him. Interestingly, the ongoing war of words is an unexpected facet in the Shashi Tharoor vs Mallikarjun Kharge fight that witnessed Kharge emerge victorious. On Wednesday, immediately after the results were declared, both Kharge and Tharoor claimed that the elections were fair and vowed to work for the Congress party together.
Kharge, 80 said that Tharoor met and congratulated him on his victory. Shashi Tharoor took to Twitter and accepted the deafeat in a visibly sporting gesture. In a subtle hint of dissatisfaction however, Tharoor said that Kharge was a part of ‘continuity’. “Our party didn’t hold polls for 22yrs. In election of this nature, there were bound to be glitches. Leadership by &large stayed with Mr Kharge, it’s not surprising if you have a choice between change & continuity & if you’re part of continuity why’d you want change,” Tharoor said.
As reported, Kharge was visibly the choice of Congress top brass including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
