Election to Congress president's post is good for the party: Tharoor

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said the reports about the possibility of him contesting for the party president's post were "only speculation"

Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday said the reports about the possibility of him contesting for the party president's post were "only speculation," but said he would be able to clearly say about his candidature only after the election notification is announced.

He also said an election to the top party post "is good for the party".

"There is only speculation. I have not announced anything. All I said is that there should be an election and that is good for the party," Tharoor told reporters here.

He said if an election is held to the Congress president's post, that will help gather the attention of the people and the party's style of functioning, ideology, values and its outlook for the country will again be discussed.

"So let many candidates come forward and participate in the election in the democratically functioning party. That is good for the party," the Thiruvananthapuram MP said responding to queries.

Referring to the request he had made to Rahul Gandhi to take the responsibility for the Congress when quit as the Congress president following the 2019 Lok Sabha polls debacle, Tharoor said three years have passed since then and current party president Sonia Gandhi was still bearing the heavy burden.

"So, in my opinion, why not another person come to the post of the Congress president? There are lakhs of members in the party. Let's see," he said.

The Congress Working Committee on Sunday decided to hold the election for the party's full-time president on October 17.

The notification for the election will be issued on September 22, while the filing of nominations would begin on September 24 and continue till September 30, the party's central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry had said after a nearly 30-minute meeting of the CWC.