Congress leader Shashi Tharoor conceded that the party’s quest to elect a new chief – its first non-Gandhi boss in over two decades – was off to a shaky start with the introduction of a pro-establishment candidate in his opponent Mallikarjun Kharge. “There are certainly aspects that imply an uneven playing field,” he said in Mumbai, disclosing that some leaders had told him they were “under pressure” to back Mr Kharge, seen as the choice of the Gandhis. However, he categorically refused to ascribe any blame to party chief Sonia Gandhi and son Rahul Gandhi.

I have always expected that there would be a senior leader in the race, the establishment was bound to rally behind him. And that’s apparent with the signatures collected on Kharge’s nomination form, the people who accompanied him to submit it and the behaviour of party colleagues on the campaign trail, he said.

Wherever Kharge goes, there are grandees of the Congress greeting him, garlanding him… whereas wherever I go, there are ordinary karyakartas (workers), simple folks who haven’t received any such instruction, Tharoor added. However, the senior Congress leader denied that he had been explicitly asked to pull out of the race.