Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh on Friday opted out of the Congress presidential poll, citing Mallikarjun Kharge’s last-minute move to file his nomination for the election.
“I met Kharge yesterday [Thursday] to tell him that I will not contest if he is planning to. He is my leader. He told me that he is not willing to. Today [Friday], I came to know from the press that he is a contender. So, I met him today morning to convey that if he is contesting, I would not,” Singh said.
A Congress leader said Kharge, who is the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, opted to contest the poll after a series of meetings on Thursday.
Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Hooda, who was among the 23 leaders who wrote to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi seeking sweeping changes in the party’s functioning in 2020, backed Kharge’s candidature.
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday pulled out of the race to become the next Congress president and tendered an apology to Gandhi over the rebellion by his loyalists against the possible elevation of Sachin Pilot as his successor.