Withdrawal date not over, don't know if there will be Cong prez poll on Oct 17: Jairam Ramesh
Gundlupet, Sep 30: Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday said he does not know if there would be a party presidential election on October 17, as the last date for withdrawal of nomination is not over yet.
The party General Secretary in-charge of Communications said both M Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor, who filed their nomination papers, are multi-dimensional personalities.
"All I can say is the election will be free, fair and transparent," Ramesh said.
"Congress is a more internally democratic party than the BJP and is the only political party that has the system to elect its President and has elected presidents," Ramesh added.
In response to a question on Kharge's Dalit identity and electoral prospects for the Congress with him as a president, Ramesh said, Kharge has had a long public life having occupied various positions, and he cannot be looked at with only one lens.
"He (Kharge) is a multi-dimensional personality and so is Shashi Tharoor (other candidate). As of now, it is a contest between two multi-dimensional personalities. The last date for withdrawal is still not over, we don't know whether there will be an election on October 17 or not," he added.
The last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 8.
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Death toll from Israeli strikes in northeast Lebanon rises from 8 to 24, Lebanese news agency says
Deir al-Balah, Nov 1: Israeli airstrikes on Friday killed at least 24 people in northeastern Lebanon, the country's news agency said, raising the death toll from eight there.
It was the latest deadly toll in the area since the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah escalated last month.
Israel's military has said that its operation in Lebanon is targeting Hezbollah's military infrastructure.
Lebanon's state National news Agency reported four airstrikes in different villages across country's northeast, saying rescuers were still searching for survivors in Younine, a town in the Bekaa Valley, from the rubble of a targeted house.
Hussein Haj Hassan, a Lebanese lawmaker representing the region in Baalbek-Hermel region, said that 60,000 people have already fled their homes in the area due to Israeli bombardment.
