NDTV Exclusive - "Aspects Suggest Uneven Playing Field": Shashi Tharoor On Congress Poll

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday conceded that the party's quest to elect a new chief - its first non-Gandhi boss in over two decades - was off to a shaky start with the introduction of a pro-establishment candidate in his opponent Mallikarjun Kharge.

"There are certainly aspects that imply an uneven playing field," he said at an NDTV townhall in Mumbai, disclosing that some leaders had told him they were "under pressure" to back Mr Kharge, seen as the choice of the Gandhis.

However, he categorically refused to ascribe any blame to party chief Sonia Gandhi and son Rahul Gandhi.

"The Gandhi family has made it very clear, also through the chief election authority Mr [Madhusudan] Mistry, that there's no official candidate. The Gandhi family is neutral in this race. And, Mistry added, if anybody goes around saying otherwise, it is not true. And he said it twice," Mr Tharoor said.

"So, the fact is, I am assuming that there's no official candidate. But you are right in your question that some people in the party are implying otherwise and trying to influence voters with that theory," he said.

Asked about widespread reports that it was senior Congress leader KC Venugopal - a key aide to Rahul Gandhi - who called Mr Kharge and coaxed him into contesting at the last minute, Shashi Tharoor said he had "no choice but to take the word of my party president and the Gandhi family".

"I have always expected that there would be a senior leader in the race, the establishment was bound to rally behind him. And that's apparent with the signatures collected on his [Mr Kharge's] nomination form, the people who accompanied him to submit it and the behaviour of party colleagues on the campaign trail," he said.

"Wherever Mr Kharge goes, there are grandees of the Congress greeting him, garlanding him... whereas wherever I go, there are ordinary karyakartas (workers), simple folks who haven't received any such instruction," Mr Tharoor added.

However, the senior Congress leader denied that he had been explicitly asked to pull out of the race. "When I called him to wish him [Mr Kharge] well - I want to make sure there were no hard feelings - he said to me, 'I would've preferred a consensus, but I suppose that's not possible in a democracy'," Mr Tharoor said.

"He never asked me to withdraw explicitly. But had he asked me to, I would've had to say, 'I am sorry'. Many people stuck their necks out for me and received calls from other grandees telling them 'Why did you do this'," he added.

Mr Tharoor also said he was "disappointed and not disheartened" because some Congress dissidents like Manish Tewari - who along with him had called for sweeping changes in the organisation as part of the so-called "G-23" grouping - had decided to side with Mr Kharge's candidacy.

Positioning his campaign as one for overhauling the Congress, Mr Tharoor said, "Our principle is different as to how to make the party ready for the polls. I believe that business as usual wouldn't work. So, it's between business as usual and change or 'Parivartan'."

He also brushed aside suggestions that Rahul Gandhi would try to run the Congress via "remote control" irrespective of the outcome of the elections, Mr Tharoor said, "Rahul Gandhi answered that before I could. He's not going to attempt using a remote control... If Rahul Gandhi wanted to run the party, all he had to do was withdraw his letter of resignation."