Shashi Tharoor said he was depending on the media to help him reach out to Congress voters
Shashi Tharoor, who is running for Congress president, said today that state party chiefs had been "unavailable" during his campaign for the internal polls in various states. He made the startling claim as he doubled down on his charge of bias and an "uneven playing field" as the party elects its first non-Gandhi chief in over 20 years.
The Congress MP, asked about his comments to NDTV in an interview on Sunday, pointed at the difference in the way his rival Mallikarjun Kharge - widely seen to be the choice of the Gandhis - was treated by party leaders.
"I have seen in many places, the PCC (Pradesh Congress Chief), CLP (Congress Legislature Party) leaders and big leaders welcome Mallikarjun Kharge, sit with him, invite people and tell them to be present. All this happened for one candidate but never for me," Mr Tharoor said.
"I visited the state Congress committee, and the state chiefs were not available. I am not complaining, but do you not see a difference in treatment?"
Mr Tharoor also said he had received an incomplete list of Congress delegates voting in Monday's polls; no phone numbers were on the list to enable contact. "I got two lists. The first list did not have phone numbers, so how could one get in touch with the delegates? I am not saying this is deliberate but there were no elections for 22 years, so there have been some lapses," Mr Tharoor said.
"I know Madhusudan Mistry and his team are trying to hold a free and fair election. I am not complaining against him."
Mr Tharoor said he was depending on the media to help him reach out to Congress voters and to convey his manifesto to them.
"Some leaders have shown bias, that's what I meant when I said it is not a level playing field," he said.
Mr Tharoor made the comments first on NDTV, at a Townhall in which he took questions from the people of Mumbai.
"There are certainly aspects that imply an uneven playing field," he said, revealing that some leaders had told him they were "under pressure" to back Mr Kharge.
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 had told NDTV.