: Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said the dissenting ‘G-23 camp’ no longer existed. The former ‘members’ of the group, he opined, now wishing to fight unitedly against the BJP and RSS and were therefore backing him as Congress president. Kharge also rejected suggestions that the Gandhi family was backing him and claimed that he had entered the polls upon the urging of senior and young leaders alike.
“There is no G23 camp now. All leaders (of G23) want to work together to stay united and fight against BJP-RSS. This is the reason they are supporting me…Many senior leaders of the party have supported my nomination for Congress president post. Many leaders of the party told me that I should contest the elections. Due to their encouragement, I am contesting today,” Kharge said.
Touching upon his opponent Shashi Tharoor’s recent contention that he is a candidate for change while Kharge is a candidate of continuity and status quo, the senior leader noted that any decision for reform after polls will be taken jointly and not by one person.
In line with the party’s ‘one person, one post’ principle, Kharge had resigned as Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha on the day he filed the nomination. He and Tharoor were left in the fray in the Congress presidential poll after former Jharkhand minister K N Tripathi’s nomination was rejected on Saturday.
According to a notification issued by the Congress on Thursday, the process for filing nominations for the election was from September 24 to 30. The date for scrutiny of the nomination papers was on October 1, while the last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 8. The final list of candidates will be published at 5 pm on October 8.
If needed, polling will be held on October 17. The counting of votes will be taken up on October 19 and the results will be declared the same day. More than 9,000 delegates will vote in the poll.
