Sonia Gandhi, Back In Delhi, Meets Shashi Tharoor. Cue Talk Of President.

Shashi Tharoor, who has hinted at running for Congress president in next month's polls, met with Sonia Gandhi today, soon after he publicly backed a call for reforms in the party.

Sonia Gandhi, interim Congress president, is back in Delhi after a medical check-up abroad. Shashi Tharoor was among several Congress leaders who visited her today, three days before the Congress opens nominations for president.

Shashi Tharoor this morning endorsed a petition by a group of young party members doubling down on calls for a revamp. The petition references the "Udaipur declaration" adopted by the Congress in May, which commits to fair polls and rules like one candidate per family and one person per post, besides a five-year cap on party posts.

I welcome this petition that is being circulated by a group of young @INCIndia members, seeking constructive reforms in the Party. It has gathered over 650 signatures so far. I am happy to endorse it & to go beyond it. https://t.co/2yPViCDv0v pic.twitter.com/waGb2kdbTu

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) September 19, 2022

"I welcome this petition that is being circulated by a group of young Congress members, seeking constructive reforms in the Party. It has gathered over 650 signatures so far. I am happy to endorse it and to go beyond it," the former Union Minister posted.

Despite the Congress announcing polls for a new chief - there are signs that the party is approaching its October internal election with a predilection for a Gandhi at the top.

Recently, the party asked its state units to request Sonia Gandhi to take a call on state chiefs. Leaders of the "G-23" - the 23 who wrote to Sonia Gandhi in 2020 asking for internal reforms - suspect it is a build-up to the Gandhis retaining the party's control, with or without an election.

State after state is backing Rahul Gandhi for Congress president though the party's central election body says there will definitely be a contest. The Congress units in Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir and Tamil Nadu have urged Rahul Gandhi to take charge again, three years after he quit over the party's polls defeats. More states may follow. To many, it is the choreographed prelude to every such election in the Congress - a nudge towards consensus instead of a vote.

Mr Tharoor, a leading member of the "G-23", has not ruled out contesting these polls. He is among the leaders who have urged the party to make public the list of voters in the Congress president election.

"I have only welcomed the fact that an election will be held. I believe that is very good for the party. Of course it is gratifying that this general statement of democratic principle has immediately led to large numbers of people around the country welcoming the prospect of my contesting. But as I have made it clear, I have not declared my candidacy," he told news agency PTI.

"I hope many will contest in order to give the membership a wide choice. So far I have neither ruled myself in nor ruled myself out," the former Union minister asserted.  

The Congress will accept nominations between September 24 and 30. The election, if required, will be held on October 17 and the results will be declared two days later.

There is a contest for the party's top post for the first time in 22 years. The last Congress election in which a Gandhi was challenged was in 2000, when veteran Jitendra Prasada lost to Sonia Gandhi.