#Congress president Polls : M Mallikarjun Kharge Will Join The Fray If Sonia Gandhi Asks Him To

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Senior Congress leader M Mallikarjun Kharge is not averse to running for AICC president polls if party chief Sonia Gandhi asks him to contest, sources close to the veteran leader said on Wednesday.

Ina report by PTI, Names of leaders like Kharge, a former Union minister and a Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist, are doing the rounds for the October 17 AICC presidential election for which the nomination process would continue till September 30.

“Kharge has told Sonia Gandhi that whatever the party decides, he will adhere to it,” a close associate of the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said, adding: “Ultimately, he will do what the party (Sonia Gandhi) suggests him to do”.

Sources close to 80-year-old Kharge, however, also said he believes only the Nehru-Gandhi family has the “enigma and charisma” and no one else has that kind of clout throughout the country.

Kharge, who has pitched for the return of Rahul Gandhi as Congress president, believes that with Lok Sabha elections just two years away, touring the country and taking the party forward is a “very humongous task”, sources said.