Shashi Tharoor, who squares off with Mallikarjun Kharge in the October 17 Congress president election, revealed today that Sonia Gandhi told him "you are most welcome to contest" and assured him there would be no "official candidate".
Senior Congress leaders and members of the G-23 group Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Anand Sharma and Prithviraj Chavan met Azad at his residence and discussed the current situation within the party and the future strategy of the group.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, who quit the Congress on Friday, met with three leaders of the party who were part of the "G-23" or group of dissenters - Anand Sharma, Prithviraj Chavan and Bhupinder Hooda.
The Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday claimed that the grouping of the G-23 "never existed" in the party and blamed the media for "perpetuating this mythology.