New Delhi: Congress leader Kodikunnil Suresh on Wednesday took a jibe at Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor over his defeat to Mallikarjun Kharge in the party’s presidential election and said that it does not matter if the former secured 1,000 votes.

Suresh said it is irrelevant to talk about Jitendra Prasada’s defeat to Sonia Gandhi in 2000, when he couldn’t even acquire 100 votes. He added that 8000 is a bigger number than 1,000. 

The Congress leader also said that Kharge won by a better margin than expected. He further said that Tharoor was able to poll over a 1,000 votes because of his campaign and urged all leaders to stay united. 

With Wednesday’s result, Kharge became the first non-Gandhi Congress leader to lead the party in 24 years. He secured 7,897 votes against Tharoor’s 1,072. A total of 9,497 votes were polled in the election held on Monday. 

In a statement shared on Twitter after the defeat, Tharoor said it was a privilege to receive the support of over a 1,000 colleagues. Calling the election a “ true celebration of inner-party democracy”, Tharoor congratulated Kharge for the victory.