New Delhi, October 8
Veteran Mallikarjun Kharge and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor will contest for the post of Congress president on October 17, with neither withdrawing from the race as the last date for withdrawals ended today.
As both leaders marched ahead, with Kharge promising to implement the Udaipur Declaration if elected, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said neither of the two candidates could be remote controlled and both were people of stature.
“Both persons standing have a position, a perspective and are people of stature and understanding. I don’t think either of them is going to be a remote-control president and frankly, this insinuation is insulting to both,” Rahul said in Turuvekere, Karnataka, where he continued with Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Rahul also said he was against monopolies and not corporates.
Reacting to industrialist Gautam Adani pledging massive investments in the Congress-ruled Rajasthan, Rahul said the Congress government had not given any preferential treatment to the industrialist. “Adani has committed Rs 60,000 crore to Rajasthan. No CM can refuse such an offer. In fact, it would not be correct for a CM to refuse such an offer. My contention is in the use of political power to help certain chosen businesses. My opposition is to two-three or four large businesses being helped politically to monopolise every single business in this country,” Rahul said.
