Congress president poll: Why it will be a cake walk for Kharge against Tharoor?

New Delhi, Oct 4: Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor are the two contenders who will be contesting in the upcoming poll for the post of party's national president after two decades.

After Gandhis refused to throw the hat in the ring, there was much drama after Ashok Gehlot, with the support of the Gandhis, decided to contest the poll. However, he was forced to back out of the race after his supporters almost put the Rajasthan government in trouble.

Now, it has boiled down to two contestants: Tharoor and Kharge. Who has the chance to emerge victorious in the poll?

Mallikarjun Kharge is expected to have a cakewalk in the forthcoming poll. There are several factors working in favour of him.

Gandhi Loyalist
Mallikarjun Kharge is a loyal party worker and most importantly he has the backing of Gandhis even though they may deny it. Let us not forget, the party workers are still loyal to Gandhis.

It was evident after several Pradesh Congress Committees (PCCs) - West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat - passed resolutions to appoint Rahul Gandhi as the Congress President.

So, the workers know that even if Gandhis are not in the race, their next choice will be their loyalist.

Clean Image
He is not a controversial man and always maintained a clean image all through his public life. Even when the party overlooked him for the post of Karnataka Chief Minister on several occasions, he never expressed his unhappiness against the party.

This is a boon for him against Shashi Tharoor, who had run into trouble on several occasions with one or the other controversy. Starting from facing allegations of abetment to suicide of his wife Sunanda Pushkar to allegations of misusing his position to buy shares in an IPL cricket franchise, he has been the controversy's favourite child.

G23 supporters
The biggest support for Kharge has come from the G-23 group, the rebel leaders who wanted organisation overhaul in the party. Although Tharoor was also part of this group, surprisingly, he has not got the backing from the group except for Sandeep Dikshit.

In fact, Manish Tewari, Anand Sharma, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Prithviraj Chavan from the dissident group became proposers for Mallikarjun Kharge.

All these factors ensure Kharge an easy victory in the upcoming poll.