"Change" vs "Satisfied": Shashi Tharoor's Pitch In One-On-One With M Kharge

Congress president polls: KN Tripathi, hardly in the game anyway, had his form rejected over technicalities today, officially making it a duel

With the nomination of former Jharkhand minister KN Tripathi rejected over technicalities, the contest for Congress president is officially a one-on-one between veteran Mallikarjun Kharge, 80, who is apparently backed by the Gandhis, and Shashi Tharoor, 66, who claims to stand for change.  For those too lazy to read 13 pages, or just plain curious, well we tried our best to summarise @ShashiTharoor's Manifesto for @INCIndia in 45seconds!Yep, we tried! #ThinkTharoorThinkTomorrowhttps://t.co/lOFzAlXiDkpic.twitter.com/avxz4ZXpL2

KN Tripathi, who was hardly in the game anyway, had his form rejected as the signature of one of his proposers didn't match and another's signature was repeated.

Mr Tharoor insists "this is not a war", but wants the voters — an electoral college of over 9,000 delegates — to see Mr Kharge as a symbol of status quo, meaning the Gandhis holding power themselves or by proxy. His slogan goes: 'Think Tomorrow, Think Tharoor'.

"Mr Kharge and I can belong to different schools of thoughts. We are associates in the same party. Let the members decide," he told news agency ANI on Saturday. "All I am telling the members is that if you're satisfied with the functioning of the party, please vote for Kharge saab. But if you want a change — if you want the party to function differently — choose me."