NEW DELHI: Shashi Tharoor will file his nomination for presidential poll of the Congress today, September 30. For the first time since C. Sankaran Nair was elected president of Congress in 1897, a Keralite is running for the top job of India's oldest political party.

At press briefing, Tharoor said, even though I think the party presidential election is an internal matter, I also think it's a chance to get more people interested in the Congress and to get the party workers fired up. When, after the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Rahul Gandhi offered to step down as the party's president to take responsibility for our crushing loss, I was one of many who tried to talk him out of it. In the end, he didn't change his mind, and we have to respect that.

That said, the longer it takes for Congress to get its act together, the more likely it is that our traditional voters will drift toward our political opponents. I have been a strong supporter of free and open elections within the party for a long time, even for the position of President. This is because a leader chosen by the party workers will be in a better position to deal with organisational challenges and the process of rebuilding that is needed to strengthen the party from within. This would give the President more credibility when he or she asked the public for help. "Business as usual" won't get us anywhere, though.

Congress is facing a double challenge right now: we need to both set out a positive, aspirational vision for the country and fix the organisational and structural deficiencies that have slowed down our recent work. I think a new leader who hasn't been part of the current system for too long could do both: energise a party that needs it and reach more voters than the Congress did in the last few elections. A democratic contest will make everyone feel more alive by starting a healthy, constructive conversation about how to make changes.

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