Congress President poll: Shashi Tharoor, Ashok Gehlot likely to contest; state units demand Rahul as chief

With less than a month till the much anticipated election for Congress president, the party is increasingly calling for Rahul Gandhi to be promoted to the position, with more than a dozen state units doing so as the uncertainty and suspense about his decision to assume the role remained. Polling for the Congress president election will take place on October 17 and the results will be announced on October 19.

However, for the first time in more than 20 years, the president of the Congress will not be Gandhi. Shashi Tharoor, one of the party members who favours significant internal reforms, will compete against Ashok Gehlot, a supporter of the Gandhi family, for the position of party president.

Former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor was the first to announce his desire to compete for a position that has mostly been held by the Gandhi family for 25 years, either by Sonia Gandhi or her son Rahul. He is a well-known member of the G-23, a group of 23 leaders in the Congress that wrote to Sonia Gandhi in 2020 to demand organisational reform and lay the blame for the party's decline on a leadership drift. On Monday afternoon, Tharoor met with Sonia Gandhi, who had just returned from a medical checkup overseas, and secured her approval to run in the election on October 17.

Also Read | 'Rahul Gandhi as Congress President': Tamil Nadu, Bihar units pass resolutions

After only a few hours, Ashok Gehlot emerged as the other contender, making the race for the top position in the Congress much harder. Up until recently, the chief minister of Rajasthan, a devoted supporter of the Gandhi family, had been pushing for Rahul Gandhi to take over as party leader. He is likely to gain support from those advocating for maintaining the status quo and Rahul Gandhi's reinstatement as prime minister.

The filing of nominations for the post of the president begins in three days.  The departure of several significant leaders during the previous year will form a backdrop for the election. Senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad was the last to go, and the majority of party leaders in Jammu and Kashmir followed suit.

Also read: Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann deplaned in Frankfurt for being drunk? Here's what AAP said

Sonia Gandhi -- who was the Congress President for 19 years and handed charge to son Rahul Gandhi in 2017 -- has been interim Congress chief since he quit the post in 2019, owning responsibility for the party's second consecutive defeat in general elections. Since then, the party has suffered a string of defeats in state elections, leading to calls for a radical leadership change.

Sitaram Kesari was the last non-Gandhi Congress President; Sonia Gandhi succeeded him in March 1998, around two years after the Narasimha Rao administration was overthrown. After Rajiv Gandhi's murder, Sonia Gandhi vowed to remain out of politics, but when the Congress was in a bad place, she made the announcement that she would join the party.

Also read: IRCTC introduces Swadesh Darshan special tourism train from MP; know route, price, other details

• Ashok Gehlot
• Congress President
• Congress President election
• Shashi Tharoor
• Rahul Gandhi
• Sonia Gandhi