Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor met Sonia Gandhi on Monday amid indications that he desires to contest the election for Congress president.

Sources said Tharoor, who was a member of the rebellious G-23, told Sonia he wanted to contest for the top post. Sonia asked him to go ahead as everybody was free to contest and she had no role in the electoral process. Sources said she also asserted that there would be no candidate from her side in the election.

Although Tharoor didn’t take calls, Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh responded to the question whether Tharoor had conveyed his decision to contest by saying: “Anybody who wants to contest is free and welcome to do so. This has been the consistent position of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. This is an open, democratic and transparent process. Nobody needs anybody’s nod to contest.”

If Tharoor has indeed been instigated to contest by the disgruntled elements in the party, he is not in a position to pose any formidable challenge to the official candidate, if there is any. Although Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are unlikely to declare their support for any candidate publicly, there is bound to be a candidate who enjoys the support of the entrenched forces who draw their power from the family. Tharoor is certainly not their choice.

While Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s name is doing the rounds as a possible candidate if Rahul doesn’t contest, many other formidable candidates are being considered to ensure there is no upset. The G-23 has already disintegrated. While several members have abandoned the group, their leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has quit the Congress, shedding all pretensions of a struggle for internal reform.

While some columnists and journalists have been advocating Tharoor as Congress president because of his flamboyance and oratorical skills, he has negligible support in the electoral college. Out of the around 9,000 votes, he will find it difficult to get even a few hundred given the strong grip Rahul has on the organisational structure.

While Tharoor barely knows Congress workers in any state except Kerala, politics in his home state is too complex and ruthless for him to control. If sentiments expressed in off-the-record conversations are any indication, Tharoor has no support among the AICC functionaries and PCC delegates. While some recalled his contemptuous “cattle class” remark about the poor, others ridiculed him for the alleged presumption that politics is all about the English language.

Realpolitik is a different ball game and even veterans like Sharad Pawar, Rajesh Pilot and Jitendra Prasada failed to pose any challenge to the ruling clique in the past. In 1997, an uncharismatic Sitaram Kesri easily warded off the challenge from the veteran Pawar and the dynamic Pilot who had contested for the president’s post. While Kesri received 6,227 votes, Pawar could manage barely 882 and Pilot 354.

In 2000, Prasada contested against Sonia and suffered a crushing defeat.

The political clout Tharoor has in the Congress is negligible in comparison with that enjoyed by Pawar, Pilot or Prasada.