NEW DELHI: Indian National Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who filed his nomination for the party president post on Friday, issued a manifesto explaining how he intends to rejuvenate the party through decentralization and internal reorganization if he wins the election.
Tharoor filed his nomination at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) office in the national capital. Before that, he visited the Raj Ghat to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi.
“There is a need for decentralization in this party. We are not an election machine for winning elections every five years. We must serve the people of India,” Tharoor said. He said the manifesto explains “how we hope to rejuvenate the party, to decentralize the organization of the party”.
“In my own efforts, I am guided by the crores of party workers who have taken the party through good times and bad and who are once again hoping for a renewed, dynamism and energy in the Congress party,” he said addressing a press conference.
“This is what I hope to bring to and through my campaign. I have a vision for Congress, for the internal reorganization of the congress, which I will send to every delegate. We are pleased that we have the signatures of party colleagues from Kashmir to Kerala and Punjab to Nagaland. I am here to be the voice of all the party workers,” Tharoor added.
The senior Congress leader also hit out at the BJP government at the Center, saying things are “not really functioning properly” in the country. “We have seen that things are not really functioning properly in our country: demonetization, historical unemployment, inflation. Congress should be the party to bring change,” he said.
Tharoor will primarily take on another veteran leader of the Congress, Mallikarjun Kharge, for the party president post.
Jharkhand Congress leader KN Tripathi, too, has filed his nomination.
Earlier, Digvijaya Singh and Ashok Gehlot said that they have dropped out of the race. The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister visited Kharge at his residence this morning. “I told him that I stand by him and can’t even think of contesting against him, I will be his proposer,” Singh told reporters.
Nominations for the post of Congress president closed at 3 pm today and results will be declared on October 19. (ANI)
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