Manish Tewari, a former federal minister, is the most recent name on the list of potential candidates as Congress gets ready to choose the party’s new leader to succeed Sonia Gandhi.
The date for the election to fill the position of party president was officially announced by the party in a notification that was released today. All Pradesh Congress Committees are scheduled to hold elections on October 17, and the results will be made public on October 19 just after the vote has been counted.
After Sonia Gandhi made it clear that anybody can participate in the election, sources close to the Sri Anandpur Sahib MP claimed on Thursday that he is thinking about entering the race.
Tewari’s thought of running coincides with indications that a number of the party’s top officials are also interested.
Tewari is a member of the G-23, a dissident group that wrote to Sonia Gandhi asking for changes to be made to the party.
Unusually, he is the sole group leader who is thinking about running for the position following the departure of experienced leader and group member Ghulam Nabi Azad on August 26 of this year. The representative from Jammu and Kashmir resigned, calling the Congress’ organisational election process “a farce and a scam.”
