"Not Candidate Of Dissent, I Was Candidate Of Change": Shashi Tharoor

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday congratulated his opponent Mallikarjun Kharge who defeated him in the election for Congress president, but tempered the greeting by raising concerns about an "uneven" playing field.

"I did not pitch myself as a candidate of dissent but change. But change in the manner in which we will do our regular work. There was need for opening up access to party workers. I would stress it is not so much about dissent, but how to make a good party better. We have the conviction and values that are right for the country. There was a sense of disconnect on the part of workers. I hope the election has contributed to giving them a sense of involvement," he said.

"When you find yourself playing on an uneven pitch you still have to bat and I have been batting (I referred to his earlier cricket analogy - We filed a wire on this cricket analogy). For the most part, we had no complaints. The result was pretty decisive. We put forward the best account of ourself and it was not good enough to carry the day,"