Cong prez poll: G-23 leaders Tewari, Chavan among 30 who back Mallikarjun Kharge. Check full list

Digvijaya Singh and Ashok Gehlot, who opted out of the race to become the next Congress president, have proposed the candidature of their colleague Mallikarjun Kharge in the party's presidential elections.

As many as 30 Congress leaders - including some from the rebel G-23 group - have shown their support for their colleague Mallikarjun Kharge who filed his nomination for the party's forthcoming presidential elections on Friday. The candidature of the 80-year-old Dalit leader Kharge was announced after backing from backing from the Gandhis, according to some reports. He will be up against Congress MP and former union minister Shashi Tharoor and Jharkhand Congress leader KN Tripathi when the elections are held next month.

Congress leader and G-23 member Manish Tewari has proposed the candidature of Mallikarjun Kharge in the party's presidential polls.(Ravi Choudhary/HT PHOTO)

Catch live updates of Congress president race here

In more drama ahead of the Congress presidential polls, Digvijaya Singh, who only announced Thursday about his decision to run for the top job, opted out of the race saying he cannot contest against Kharge. Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot had also pulled out after apologising to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi for the mass rebellion of MLAs in his state.

Both the leaders have proposed the candidature of Kharge.

Tharoor and Kharge - two of the most prominent faces of the Congress party - held press briefings after they filed the nomination papers. However, there was a difference between the nature of the discussions the two contestants triggered. While Tharoor openly welcomed the news of Kharge contesting the polls, saying “many candidates are needed for the party's benefit”, the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha refused to talk about the MP's candidature. Kharge thanked his party leaders supporting him in the Congress presidential polls, and said he is “fighting for a big change.”

Here's the list of Congress leaders who have proposed Kharge's candidature:

1. AK Antony
2. Ashok Gehlot
3. Digvijaya Singh
4. Ambika Soni
5. Mukul Wasnik
6. Anand Sharma
7. Ajay Maken
8. Bhupinder Hooda
9. Tariq Anwar
10. Abhishek Singhvi
11. Salman Khurshid
12. Akhilesh PD Singh
13. Deepender S Hooda
14. Narayanswamy
15. Pramod Tiwari
16. Vaithilingam
17. PL Punia
18. Avinash Pande
19. Rajeev Shukla
20. Syed Naseer Hussain
21. Manish Tewari
22. Raghuvir Singh Meena
23. Dhiraj Prasad Sahu
24. Prithviraj Chavan
25. Kamleshwar Patel
26. Tara Chand
27. Moolchand Meena
28. Dilip Gurjar
29. Sanjay Kapoor
30. Vinit Punia