Congress presidential elections: Mallikarjun Kharge joins race, Digvijaya Singh backs out

Singh meanwhile met party Kharge on Friday morning. Sources said he will not file his nomination now since Kharge is in fray.

Kharge, who is the Congress' Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, is being seen as the candidate backed by the Gandhi family for the post.

Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor, filed his nomination Friday.

On Friday morning, Tharoor reached Raj Ghat in New Delhi to pay tributes to Mahatma Gandhi ahead of filing his nomination.

Asked about the contest, he said, "When you enter a race, you know that the outcome is uncertain but you go with confidence that you'll give a good account of yourself."

"We are all party colleagues, we want the party to be strengthened. We are not rivals, there is going to be a friendly contest. We all want the party to be strong," said Tharoor.

Asked about Kharge's entry in the race, he said, "He is a respected colleague, it will be a good thing to have more people in the fray".

Congress' central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry meanwhile said they are 'fully prepared'.

"We're fully prepared to hold the elections for the party's presidential post. Any person can submit his nomination form between 11am and 3pm today," he said.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot Thursday announced he will not contest for the post of Congress President.

Gehlot, who was the front runner in the race for Congress president before a rebellion by his supporters in Rajasthan, said he apologised to Sonia Gandhi that he could not get the resolution passed despite being the chief minister.

(With additional UNI inputs)