Shashi Tharoor Points To "Difference In Treatment" Between Him, M Kharge

Shashi Tharoor also said he had received an incomplete list of Congress delegates voting in Monday's polls.

Shashi Tharoor, who is running for Congress president, said today that state party chiefs had been "unavailable" during his campaign for the internal polls in various states. He made the startling claim as he doubled down on his charge of bias and an "uneven playing field" as the party elects its first non-Gandhi chief in over 20 years.

The Congress MP, asked about his comments to NDTV in an interview on Sunday, pointed at the difference in the way his rival Mallikarjun Kharge - widely seen to be the choice of the Gandhis - was treated by party leaders.

"I have seen in many places, the PCC (Pradesh Congress Chief), CLP (Congress Legislature Party) leaders and big leaders welcome Mallikarjun Kharge, sit with him, invite people and tell them to be present. All this happened for one candidate but never for me," Mr Tharoor said.

"I visited the state Congress committee, and the state chiefs were not available. I am not complaining, but do you not see a difference in treatment?"