Lok Sabha MP and Congress presidential poll candidate Shashi Tharoor on Friday said he was gladdened by the reception he has got from party workers in Madhya Pradesh and admitted he did not get this kind of welcome in some states.
Mr Tharoor is contesting against veteran colleague Mallikarjun Kharge for the polls to the party's highest post, scheduled for October 17. Poll results will be declared on October 19.
"I am glad at the reception I received in Madhya Pradesh. MP Congress president Kamal Nath, Leader of the Opposition Govind Singh met me,” Mr Tharoor told reporters in Bhopal. He was accompanied by party MLA Lakshman Singh, younger brother of Rajya Sabha MP and senior leader Digviijaya Singh.
"It is true I did not get such a welcome in other states,” said Mr Tharoor, who is in Bhopal to drum up support for his candidature against Mr Kharge. Out of the 9,000 delegates of the party, 502 from MP are expected to cast their votes in the polls on Monday.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he has no enmity with Mr Kharge, adding that on the latter's 80th birthday he has penned a tribute listing his achievements. "Even after elections we are going to work together like in the past," Mr Tharoor asserted.
Queried on speculations that he may start taking unilateral decisions if he is elected as Congress president, something former chief Sitaram Kesri, who held the top post between 1996 and 1998, was accused of by a section of the party, Mr Tharoor said he would take everyone along.
"No Congress president can keep the Gandhi parivar aloof," Mr Tharoor emphasised.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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