Rahul says 'Kharge ji will decide' his role in Congress

New Delhi, Oct 19: Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that his role in the party will be decided by Mallikarjun Kharge, who is the new chief of the grand old party.

"I can't comment on Congress President's role, that's for Mr Kharge (party's Presidential candidate) to comment on. The President will decide what my role is...," ANI quoted Gandhi in a tweet.

Talking about the polls, the former Congress president said, "Everyone asks questions about polls in Congress. I'm proud that Congress has had open & transparent polls. Why is nobody interested in elections in other parties, including the BJP and other regional parties?"

He added that Congress is the only political party that is holding polls and has election commission. "I've worked with Mistry Ji (Cong CEC chairman), he's straightforward. Issues will be addressed to EC,who'll take a decision," Gandhi added amid Andhra Pradesh leg of Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Meanwhile, Mallikarjun Kharge has won the Congress presidential elections with 7897 votes, while Shashi Tharoor got about 1000 votes, according to ANI. A total of 416 votes were rejected.

With this, Congress have a non-Gandhi for the first time in 24 years.

More than 9,500 votes cast to choose between senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor are counted to cap the election contest, the sixth in its 137-year-old history.

Of the total 9,915 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates that formed the electoral college to pick the party chief in a secret ballot, over 9,500 cast their ballot at PCC offices and the AICC headquarters, Mistry said at a press conference after the polling ended on Monday.

The Congress has claimed that its internal democracy has no parallel in any other party and it is the only one to have a central election authority for organisational polls.

It is the sixth time in its nearly 137-year-old history that an electoral contest is deciding who would take up the mantle of the party's president as successor to Sonia Gandhi.