The October 17 presidential poll of the Congress Party is set to witness a fierce contest between party veteran Mallikarjun Kharge and rebel Sashi Tharoor. Initially, the battle was predicted to be a walkover for Kharge as he has the blessings of the all-powerful Gandhi family. But former top ranking UN official Tharoor has made it quite a close affair by successfully reaching out to younger generations of the party. Among others, young leaders like Karti Chidambaram and Salman Soz, sons of two eminent Congress leaders, have joined the Tharoor camp defying the unofficial party decision. Tharoor is also getting the support of dissidents from various states, who have long been denied a share of power. In West Bengal for instance, a majority of party delegates are in no mood to vote for Kharge as they believe that only internal democracy can revive the party. Similarly, there is a question mark over Rajasthan, where the Ghelot loyalists may not support Kharge as that will cause uncertainty for the future of their leader. A number of other states may also vote for Tharoor due to the ineffectiveness of the present leadership in combating BJP.
All these developments have visibly made the Kharge camp shaky, which has now reportedly urged the Gandhi family to intervene. Whether the ploy will help or not will be known only after the declaration of the poll result, however it proves that Kharge is no longer confident of his victory, which marks a total shift of scenario from the beginning of the election process. The change has taken place due to Tharoor’s impressive campaign along with the inefficiency of the present leadership in ensuring a smooth transition of power. Initially, notwithstanding the repeated refusals, the party leaders continued to urge Rahul Gandhi to take over the reins of the Congress. Then, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was asked to be the party president but the move had to be dropped as the proposal led to a near revolt within the party. Finally, Kharge was roped in, who without the support of the Gandhi family has been a weak candidate from the very beginning.
The various debacles and uncertainties have clearly disillusioned thousands of party workers. To his credit, Tharoor has become the voice of the disgruntled sections of the party to challenge the hegemony of the Gandhi family over the party, which no other Congress leader has dared to do in decades. This has attracted the favour of party workers, though the formation of the Electoral College still favours Kharge. But, whoever wins this battle, it will mark a shift in the functioning of the Congress party, which has been plagued by nepotism and sycophancy for years. Initially, everyone thought this election would not bring any real change to the party. But now it appears that the first exercise of internal democracy in decades may prove to be beneficial for the party in the long run.