Didn't make any official announcement: Shashi Tharoor on his article on Congress prez polls

Shashi Tharoor said that people were free to speculate 'as they like', in relation to his article about Congress presidential polls.

At the outset of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor's article in the Malayalam daily about the Congress's presidential polls, the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram said that people were free to speculate 'as they like'. Giving way to speculations over his candidacy as the possible head of the grand old party, Tharoor, in the article, called for a 'free and fair' election with 'several candidates'.

Subsequently, he said that the rationale behind the article was that elections are a healthy and good component of the party.

"A democratic country like ours needs a democratic party. I welcome Congress's decision to conduct polls. I am surprised that what I wrote in the article has caught so much attention," Tharoor said.

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"I have put some thoughts out there. Beyond that, I have not made any official announcement or plans to make any official announcement. I have nothing to say at this stage. The process is a few weeks away. Let's wait for the time and the procedures to begin," he said.

Speaking about speculations that he would be the Congress's succeeding president to Sonia Gandhi, he said, "In my article, I said multiple candidates would be a good idea. At the end of the day, only one person emerges but the process attracts a lot of attention."