“Hello sir, I am calling from Shashi Tharoor sir’s office. You know elections are coming and both Kharge and Tharoor sahib are the choice of Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi ji,” a canvasser for Shashi Tharoor solicits the support of a Congress delegate from Amethi. “Please vote carefully.”
Two “friendly contenders”, Tharoor and Rajya Sabha MP Mallikarjun Kharge, are slugging it out to convince over 9,000 party delegates to vote for them in the October 17 election for Congress president using similar strategies but with varying degrees of success. Tharoor’s canvasser, working out of the MP’s residence, has a list of 1,200 names from Uttar Pradesh to convince. He has called around 200 in the previous four days.
