Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring Monday slammed rivals parties for terming Mallikarjun Kharge a “proxy” candidate of the Gandhi family, saying the “transparent” presidential poll has robbed them of the “dynastic” charge. Even the other candidate in the party’s presidential election, the seasoned and widely respected Shashi Tharoor, has not questioned the transparency and impartiality of the poll, he said. Asserting that Congress president is being elected democratically, he asked the rival parties to hold organisational elections like the grand old party.
Voting in the much-discussed elections to choose the first non-Gandhi Congress chief was held at the AICC headquarters and polling booths in PCC offices across the country with Kharge and Tharoor in the fray. The results will be declared on October 19. Warring said about 10,000 delegates constitute the electorate in the Congress presidential election.
“How can anyone unduly influence 10,000 voters without getting noticed?” he posed while asserting that “every voter cast the vote of their own choice without any compulsion”. Hitting out at the rivals of the Congress, the party’s Punjab unit chief said, “Since they have been robbed of the argument of dynastic politics with the democratic and transparent election process in the Congress, they have started saying so and so is the proxy candidate of the Gandhis.”
“Supposing the candidate, that the opposition says is the proxy of the Gandhi family, wins, should not they accept and acknowledge the Gandhi family’s influence and the love it commands among the party workers across the country?” Today’s election will clear all doubts about who rules the hearts of Congress workers across the country, Warring said, adding irrespective of who wins the Congress presidential election, it will be the victory of the party workers at the grassroots level.
Senior Congress leader and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the party is setting a splendid example of internal democracy. “The Congress is the only party in the country which elects its president. Other parties need to learn from this.” Commenting about the candidates in the election, Hooda said both are capable leaders and whosoever becomes the president will strengthen the party.
Notably, Hooda was among the dissident G-23 group of leaders who, in a letter to the Congress president in August 2020, had sought an organisational overhaul and elections at all levels. Many Congress leaders, including Partap Singh Bajwa, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Manish Tewari, cast their votes at Punjab Congress Bhawan here. According to an office bearer, 219 of the total 237 delegates cast their votes.
In Haryana, leaders including Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Kumari Selja and Udai Bhan cast their votes at Haryana Congress Bhawan here. Out of 195 Haryana Congress delegates, 193 cast their votes in the poll.
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