Friday is the last date to file nominations for the race to elect the next party boss.
In a turn of events, Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh Friday backed out of the race to become the next Congress president as his colleague and senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge made a last-minute entry to the contest.
“I met Kharge ji yesterday to tell that I will not contest if he is planning to, he is my leader. He told me yesterday that he is not willing to. Today, I came to know from the press that he is a contender. So, I met him today morning to convey that if he is contending, I won’t,” Singh said.
The two leaders had met at Kharge’s residence earlier in the day.
Friday is the last date to file nominations for the race to elect the next party boss.
Ashok Gehlot, who was reported to have been pulled up by the Gandhi leadership, over the rebellion staged by his loyalists said Thursday he won’t be contesting the top party polls. The rebel MLAs were upset that Gehlot’s ex-deputy Sachin Pilot had received Gandhi’s backing to take over as the Rajasthan chief minister if Gehlot is chosen for the top party post.
Below are the names of the leaders who have confirmed their candidature:
Shashi Tharoor:
The Thiruvananthapuram MP confirmed Friday he would be filing his nomination at 12:15pm. The former Union minister had claimed the support of his party workers in the bid to claim the top role in Congress, but stressed that the picture would be clearer after September 30.
Mallikarjun Kharge:
A new entrant to the race, Kharge’s candidature was confirmed by Congress’s Pramod Tiwari. Kharge is the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.
Tiwari also clarified that Digvijaya Singh was not directed to opt-out.
Singh has said he will back Mallikarjun Kharge in the election.
KN Tripathi
The Jharkhand Congress leader said he would be filing his nomination at 1pm today.
“Rahul Gandhi & party chief Sonia Gandhi have said that they’re neither requesting anyone to contest nor declining anyone it…we want to see what the rank & file of the party want,” he was quoted by news agency ANI.
( curtesy Hindustan times)