Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, September 30

Congress presidential election will witness a conflict between two contrasting personalities—the country, related to grassroots, Scheduled Caste chief Mallikarjun Kharge and a flamboyant, former UN diplomat Shashi Tharoor who comes from higher caste Nair neighborhood in Kerala.

Symbolism is writ giant on Congress Party’s transfer to challenge Kharge, 80, who seems to be a transparent winner over Tharoor, 66, with the may of the Gandhis and the celebration’s electoral faculty tilted closely in favour of the previous.

While Tharoor is a rank outsider within the Congress and joined the celebration solely in 2009, profitable the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat thrice (he’s into his third time period now), Kharge is a thoroughbred Congressman who joined the celebration in 1969 as Gulbarga metropolis Congress chief. A political heavyweight from Karnataka, the place he was MLA for 9 phrases over 37 years from 1972 to 2009, Kharge may by no means change into the chief minister however is effectively on his approach to assume celebration presidency now.

Rising by means of the grind of Congress politics, Kharge entered the nationwide scene solely in 2009 when he gained Gulbarga Lok Sabha seat and retained it in 2014. 

He was a union minister throughout his first stint in LS and chief of the home after the Congress was decimated to 44 MPs within the 2014 basic elections.

In 2019, Kharge misplaced the primary ever election in his total profession and was rewarded with Leader of Opposition publish in Rajya Sabha—which he has held since February 2021.

A person of humble beginnings from Bidar’s Varavatti, Kharge is known within the Congress for absolute loyalty to the Gandhis and ummatched resilience.

Despite shedding out to colleagues SM Krishna and Siddharamaiah within the Karnataka Congress race, Kharge by no means rebelled in opposition to the celebration.

Tharoor, in distinction, joined the G-23 group, seen as difficult the authority of Sonia Gandhi.

Articulate and frank in his opinions, Tharoor has had a baggage of controversies with a few of his pro-Prime Minister Narendra Modi remarks not taking place effectively with the Congress.

Even at this time, as quickly as he filed the papers for celebration president’s publish, the BJP flagged the omission of components of J&Ok and Ladakh within the map of India printed on the manifesto Tharoor circulated to Congress delegates who will vote within the celebration chief’s election on October 17. Tharoor made gentle of the criticism saying “no one does these things on purpose” and apologized unconditionally. The improvement, nevertheless, signalled as soon as once more that Tharoor and controversy aren’t any unusual bedfellows.