'No doubt that Rahul Gandhi is preferred choice to be Congress chief': Shashi Tharoor after Chintan Shivir

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday said former party chief Rahul Gandhi remains the preferred choice of party workers for the post of president. The post is currently held by Sonia Gandhi after the Wayanad MP stepped down in 2019 after the party's poor performance in Lok Sabha elections.

Speaking to news agency PTI, Tharoor said that there remains "no doubt" that Rahul Gandhi would be the preferred choice of an overwhelming majority of party workers to take up the mantle of party presidency, but added that the former party chief has not indicated whether he wants the job.

At the party's three-day 'Chintan Shivir' in Rajasthan's Udaipur, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said the issue of Rahul Gandhi as party president was not discussed to the best of his knowledge. While some of his colleagues certainly made such suggestions, they were not part of a structured discussion, the Congress leader said.

"Still, there remains no doubt that Rahul Gandhi would be the preferred choice of an overwhelming majority of party workers. He has not indicated whether he wants the job." "I suppose we will have to wait for the proposed AICC (All India Congress Committee) to settle that issue," Tharoor said.

Describing the brain-storming session as an exercise in reform and revival, Tharoor said "the proof of the pudding is in the eating" and it remains to be seen whether the "process" will end up where many leaders wanted it to.

He said, "Serious discussions were held in a constructive spirit amid much talk of change in the air. But whether it will end up where many of us had wanted remains to be seen." "Let's say a process has begun that still needs to unfold over the next few months. The cliché holds true: the proof of the pudding is in the eating," he added.

(With PTI inputs)

Published on: Wednesday, May 18, 2022, 06:35 PM IST