Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Sept 30: In a significant turn of events in the last-minute fight for the Congress presidential nomination, Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh withdrew his name from consideration and declared he would support Mallikarjun Kharge.
The nomination papers for the eagerly anticipated election must be submitted by Friday. Digvijaya Singh chose to withdraw from the race, leaving Shashi Tharoor and Mallikarjun Kharge as the two leading candidates.
Following the mutiny in Rajasthan that his devoted MLAs instigated in an effort to keep him in that position even if he ran in the party election, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot withdrew from the race on Thursday.
“I told Kharge I will opt out if Mallikarjun Kharge contests. He is my senior,” Digvijaya Singh said.
“I have worked for the Congress whole my life. I will continue to do so. I can’t compromise on three things — Dalit rights, fight against communalism and my faith in the party leadership,” he added.
“I visited Kharge’s residence yesterday and told him that if he contests, I will not. But at that time, he said he had not taken any decision. Today, I came to know from the media that he will be filing his nomination. So I am opting out as I can’t even think of contesting against my senior,” he further added.
(LoP Mallikarjun) Kharge Ji is my senior. I went to his residence y'day & told him that I won't file my nomination if he's filing (for #CongressPresident). He said that he won't be filing. Afterwards, I got to know via press that he is a candidate: Congress leader Digvijaya Singh pic.twitter.com/pw7TWeXibP
— ANI (@ANI) September 30, 2022
Meanwhile, Congress leader Pramod Tiwari on Friday informed that he will be a proposer for Mallikarjun Kharge.