More state units bat for Rahul Gandhi as Congress chief; Party says it's 'natural', insists election will be fair

More state units of the Congress have passed resolutions backing Rahul Gandhi to take over as the party chief amid hectic activities over the upcoming election of the new AICC presidentSources said with Rahul Gandhi unlikely to contest or change his stand the election for the top post in the grand old party will witness a contest after more than two decadesRajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is considered a frontrunner for the post as he is perceived to be having the backing and confidence of the present dispensation and is likely to be challenged by a G23 member Shashi Tharoor who has expressed his desire to contestThe poll process for the Congress presidents election will begin on September 22 with the issue of the notification and the nomination filing will start from September 25 to 30 The election will be held on October 17 and the result will be out two days laterAmid the heightened political hubbub Haryana and Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committees PCCs were the latest to join the chorus favouring Rahul Gandhi to take over as party chiefAlso Read PCCs passing resolution seeking Rahul Gandhi to head Congress not binding says Jairam RameshWith around 10 PCCs coming out in support of Gandhi so far party General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Tuesday that such measures have no binding effectBut nobody asked anyone to pass any resolution The Congress party workers are enthusiastic Rahul Gandhi has not asked anyone to pass any resolution The Congress president has not asked anyoneThey have been watching Gandhi walking for the past 13 days They know the pain he is undergoing every day They all can relate to him Its natural that they pass the resolution But the resolution has no binding effect Ramesh said referring to the Bharat Jodo Yatra yatraEntire party is immersed in making Bharat Jodo Yatra a success Even so its important to reiterate that any member is welcome to contest for Congress President This is a democratic and transparent processNobody needs anybodys nod to contest especially that of party leadership Ramesh also tweetedHe said that whether Gandhi will contest or not will be known between Sep 2430Rajasthan Chhattisgarh Gujarat Tamil Nadu Bihar Maharashtra Haryana Jharkhand and Jammu Kashmir units of the party have supported Rahul Gandhi as the next Congress president a post he quit in 2019 after the Lok Sabha debacleCongress general secretary K C Venugopal met party president Sonia Gandhi and is learnt to have discussed the AICC chiefs electionEchoing Ramesh he said anybody can contest the Congress presidents poll which will be free and fair as well as transparentWhoever wants to file a nomination can file it We have said it will be an open election anybody can contest free and fair election definitely it will be a transparent election he saidOn Tharoor he said Not only Shashi Tharoor anybody who wants to contest can contestTharoor had met Sonia Gandhi on Monday and expressed his intention to contest the poll The Congress president is learnt to have conveyed to Tharoor that she would stay neutral in the electionsGehlot had earlier denied that he is a candidate and has been saying that he will try and convince Rahul Gandhi to contestMeanwhile a controversy arose over the reported comments of Himachal PCC chief Pratibha Singh on Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi not giving enough time for the partySingh however claimed she was wrongly quoted as she never made any disparaging remarks against the leadership and the Gandhi familyThe reported move of Tharoor to contest the Congress presidential poll did not go down well with the party in Kerala with a senior leader terming it a personal decision of the Thiruvananthapuram MPAnother MP made it clear that the state unit would vote only for those who recognise the prominence of the NehruGandhi familyKodikunnil Suresh and K Muraleedharan two Lok Sabha colleagues of Tharoor from the state made their displeasure over the reported moveIf he Rahul Gandhi is not willing to take up the position a person acceptable to the AICC and the majority of leaders and workers should come to that post That is the wish of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee and all of us Suresh said during the yatraTharoors contest will not create any crisis in the party he said noting that it is not a serious contestVadakara MP Muraleedharan said the state party would vote only for those who recognise the prominence of the Nehru familyHe said Rahul Gandhis unwillingness to accept the top position was a cause of worry for allThere is no dispute among anyone that Rahul Gandhi should come and take up the post But it is up to him whether to accept the post or not the former KPCC chief saidAnyway we will cast our votes only for those who recognise the prominence of the Nehru family he saidMeanwhile Gehlot called a meeting of Congress MLAs in Rajasthan on Tuesday night ahead of his planned visit to Delhi amid speculation that he may contest for the post of party presidentThe upcoming polls would be historic as the new chief would replace Sonia Gandhi the longestserving party presidentThe party last saw a contest for the post in November 2000 Jitendra Prasada lost to Sonia Gandhi in 2000Prior to that Sitaram Kesri had defeated Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot in 1997This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever