Ask Kharge ji...: Rahul Gandhi announces new party chief ahead of results

Even before the results of the Congress presidential elections were officially announced Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said Mallikarjun Kharge will decide his role in the partyI cant comment on Congress Presidents role thats for Mr Kharge partys Presidential candidate to comment on The President will decide what my role isand where I will be deployed ask Kharge ji Sonia ji said Congress MP amid the Andhra Pradesh leg of Bharat Jodo YatraWithin an hour of his statement the results were announced and Mallikarjun Kharge was officially declared the winner of the Congress presidential elections with 7897 votes Shashi Tharoor got about 1000 votesIt was for the first time in 24 years that the Congress party will be led by a chief who does not belong to the NehruGandhi familyCongress sources also said the elected president will take charge after Diwali in the presence of senior leaders in a programme at the Congress headquartersAlso Read Mallikarjun Kharge elected as Congresss new presidentHowever a few minutes later Presidential candidate Shashi Tharoor approached the election authority alleging that there were certain irregularities on voting day in some StatesAhead of the counting of votes for the Congress presidential election the Shashi Tharoor camp has approached the partys election authority alleging that it suspected extremely serious irregularities in Uttar Pradesh on the day of the polling and demanded that all votes from the state be deemed invalidRahul Gandhi further targeted BJP and other regional parties for not conducting presidential electionsWe are the only political party in the country that holds selections we are also the political party that has an election commission inside it Everyone asks questions about polls in Congress Im proud that Congress has had open and transparent polls Why is nobody interested in elections in other parties including the BJP and other regional parties said the Congress leaderHe further said that Andhra Pradesh should have one capital and that should be AmaravatiAs far as the bifurcation is concerned the main thing from my perspective and from Congresss perspective when this bifurcation took place certain commitments were made by the Indian union to the people of Andhra Pradesh We believe those have fundamental commitments and the commitments made by the people of Andhra Pradesh and we think those commitments should be fulfilled That is our single most observation that those commitments that were made include special status should be fulfilled We think that Andhra Pradesh should have one capital and that should be Amaravati he addedThe 3500 kilometres yatra will be a historic event for the Congress and the entire country It is the longest march on foot by any Indian politician in the history of India the Congress said earlier in a statementNotably Mahatma Gandhis Dandi march was the longest march by foot 389 kilometres in 24 days between Sabarmati ashram to Dandi Navasari in Gujarat stateAccording to Congress the Bharat Jodo Yatra is being held to combat the divisive politics of the BJPled Centre and awaken the countrys people to the dangers of economic inequalities and social polar and political centralisationNotably all the party MPs leaders and workers along with Rahul Gandhi are staying in containers Sleeping beds toilets and ACs are also installed in some of the containers The arrangements have been made keeping in view the intense heat and humidity with the change of placesThe Congress suffered a debacle in the assembly polls held earlier this year and the Yatra is seen as an attempt to rally the party rank and file for the upcoming electoral battlesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever