Tharoor ‘open to public debate’ with Kharge, gets backing from his proposer

As Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said he would be open to the idea of a public debate with Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge for the AICC president’s post, party member Salman Anees Soz said such a debate would help Congress delegates “get a sense of the vision and plans of these leaders”.

Kharge and Tharoor will contest for the Congress’s chief post after former Jharkhand minister KN Tripathi’s nomination was rejected on Saturday.

Soz, who is among those who have signed as proposers for Tharoor’s bid for Congress president election, tweeted, #TharoorElectionUpdate : Dr. @ShashiTharoor is open to a public debate with @kharge ji, should both sides agree. A public debate would attract a lot of attention for @INCIndia and would help Congress delegates and the public get a sense of the vision & plans of these leaders.”

In an interview with news agency PTI, Tharoor said he would be “open to the idea” when asked if he would want a public debate between the party’s presidential candidates, as is seen in the recent British Conservative Party leadership race.

“There are no ideological differences among us; rather, it is a question of how we propose to go about achieving the objectives we already agree upon,” Tharoor said.

According to the Thiruvananthapuram MP, between the last date for submission of nominations and the date for polls, there are roughly two-and-a-half weeks and it would be, therefore, practically and logistically difficult to reach out to all the 9,000-odd delegates who are eligible to vote in these elections.

“In that sense, a platform where candidates can exchange their ideas and vision for the party in a constructive manner would potentially facilitate the transmission of these perspectives to more of the delegates than we can reach,” PTI quoted him as saying.

At the same time, such an exchange of ideas would certainly garner much interest from non-voting sections as well, be it other Congress workers, the media and even the general Indian public, he said.

Mallikarjun Kharge ‘officially starts’ campaigning

Meanwhile, Kharge announced his “official start” to the election campaign on Sunday. “The day I filed my nomination, I submitted resignation from my post, aligning with the ‘One Person One Post’ decision of the party taken in Udaipur.

I officially begin my campaign for the post of Congress party president today,” Kharge said while addressing a press conference with other three Congress leaders Gourav Vallabh, Deepender S Hooda and Syed Naseer Hussain.

Kharge tendered his resignation as the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Rajya Sabha on Saturday as he filed nomination papers to contest the post of president of his party a day before.