The Congress's young workers must be heard, said Shashi Tharoor, a party MP and Congress presidential contender, adding that the party's leadership will now strive to change the party's organizational structure, which is the key demand of the G-23 dissident party leaders.
“We give respect to the big leaders, but it is time to hear the youth in the party. We will work to change the organisational structure of the party. Importance should be given to party workers,” Tharoor said in Nagpur, reported news agency ANI.
"Mallikarjun Kharge's confidence is good. I'm also confident that there are people who will listen to me too. Big leaders can naturally stand with other big leaders in party, but with me, there are workers of the party from different states," the Thiruvananthapuram MP noted.
Using the hashtag 'Think Tharoor Think Tomorrow,' he further emphasized that his proposers and supporters came from 12 states and represented all levels of leadership.
"The nomination papers I filed represent an exceptionally wide breadth of voluntary support provided to me by party members across India," Tharoor said a day earlier.
Kharge submitted 14 forms, Tharoor five, and KN Tripathi one. However, the former Jharkhand minister's candidacy was denied because one of his proposers' signatures did not match and another proposer's signature was duplicated.
Nominations can be withdrawn until October 8, and the final list of candidates will be released at 5 p.m. that day.
The G-23 has been calling for an organizational revamp of the party, which has suffered a string of electoral defeats since 2014.
Shashi Tharoor will face off against Mallikarjun Kharge in the party's presidential election on October 17.
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