G-23 leaders gather Azad, Tharoor may throw his Hat in the ring National

New Delhi, Aug 30 : Congress G-23 leaders Prithviraj Chavan, Anand Sharma and Bhupinder Singh Hooda have met on Tuesday Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Azad has resigned from the Congress and is scheduled to organize his first public gathering in Jammu in the first weekThe G-23 leaders are believed to be preparing to contest the Presidential elections of the party, which is scheduled for October 17.Former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor who is expected to put his hat in the ring, but said: "Lets wait for sometime." Sources suggest Tharoor and the former Maharashtra Chief Minister Chavan are likely candidates to challenge Gandhis candidate.There is Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot becoming a front-runner for Congress President, and being viewed as the choice of the interim chief Sonia Gandhi, even as some people want to see the return of Rahul Gandhi - with Gehlot also putting forward his name.G-23 was said to have made a decision to nominate an alternative candidate if Gandhi was present.It remains to be determined if it would succeed since it appeared unlikely that Sonia Gandhis choices could be questioned.

The last time an election was held for the Congress Presidents office was in 2000, when Jitendra Prasada had been a candidate to challenge Sonia Gandhi but lost.miz/v.