Congress president polls | Mallikarjun Kharge is a safe pair of hands for Congress, says Manish Tewari

In the presidential contest between Mr Tharoor and Mr Kharge, the Lok Sabha member from Punjab has thrown his weight behind Mr Kharge.

The Congress needs a "safe pair of hands" and Mallikarjun Kharge is the right person to steer the party, Lok Sabha member Manish Tewari said on October 14, 2022 while endorsing Mr Kharge as his choice for the Congress president's post.

Mr Tewari, along with his Lok Sabha colleague Shashi Tharoor, was a signatory to the August 2020 letter that the ginger group, G-23, had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi to press for internal reforms.

However, in the presidential contest between Mr Tharoor and Mr Kharge, the Lok Sabha member from Punjab has thrown his weight behind Mr Kharge.

"My endorsement of Sh @kharge ‘s candidature as he has come up from grassroots. I do hope he would understand & live up to the aspirations of millions of young @nsui @IYC & @INCIndia workers who try & make a place for themselves de-horse godfather’s, entitlement or even pedigree," Mr Tewari tweeted.

The Lok Sabha member also shared a video of his interview to news agency, ANI, in which he said Mr Kharge has risen from the ranks and has worked at various levels of the party including the students' wing.

"If you place all the facts and analyse objectively then Kharge ji has spent 50 years serving the Congress party. At this juncture, the Congress needs a safe pair of hands and a stable personality and it will have in form of Mallikarjun Kharge ji. In my opinion, those who have worked in NSUI, Youth Congress, Block Committees or in the districts will have a better grasp of the organisational challenges," Mr Tewari said.

The Lok Sabha MP's view reflects an opinion among a section of the Congress party that has reservations about Shashi Tharoor being the right person to contest for the party's top job as he didn't work in organisational wings like the students' union and the Youth Congress or come up from Block Level or District Congress Committees.