New Delhi: Amid several fast-paced meetings in the run-up to the Congress Presidential elections, senior party leader Digvijaya Singh, who is likely to file his nomination for the president's post on Friday, met Shashi Tharoor, another contender for the top post and agreed that theirs is "not a battle between rivals but a friendly contest" among colleagues.
According to a report by news agency PTI, Singh met Tharoor, the party MP from Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday after collecting nomination papers for the elections.
Taking to Twitter, Tharoor wrote, "Received a visit from Digvijaya Singh this afternoon. I welcome his candidacy for the Presidency of our Party.”
"We both agreed that ours is not a battle between rivals but a friendly contest among colleagues. All we both want is that whoever prevails, @incIndia will win!" he added.
It is to be noted that Tharoor has already declared that he will file his nomination for the post of Congress president on Friday, the last day of the nomination process.
Polling for the presidential post will take place on October 17 while the result will be announced on October 19.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday announced that he will not contest the Congress presidential polls and took moral responsibility of the political crisis in the state.
The Rajasthan CM made the statement after meeting Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in Delhi. He said that he has apologised to Gandhi after state Congress MLAs defied the central observers by not attending the legislature party meeting on Sunday.
Notably, the MLAs had instead held another meeting and several of them, loyal to Gehlot, threatened to tender resignations, pushing the party into a crisis.