Congress presidential polls: Kharge dismisses rumours of Sonia Gandhi's support

Congress veteran leader and partys presidential candidate Mallikarjun Kharge said that his name was not suggested by the party supremo Sonia Gandhi and dismissed the speculations of receiving support from the partys interim presidentKharge said that Sonia Gandhi had never suggested his name for the party president position and called it a rumourSonia Gandhi suggesting my name for the president position is all a rumour I have never said this She has clearly stated that anyone from the Gandhi family will neither be a part of the election nor support any candidate Kharge said on TuesdayNotably Shashi Tharoor and Mallikarjun Kharge are up against each other in the race for the post of Congress PresidentSomeone has spread this rumour to defame the Congress party Sonia Gandhi and me She has clearly stated that she will not participate in the party elections nor will she come in support of any candidate Kharge saidKharge further said that the members of the party have elected delegates which are 9300 in numbers which will vote for the candidate and the one with the majority would be electedAlso Read Sonia Gandhi asked me to become Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief in 2005 KhargeTalking about voters of Uttar Pradesh he said that there were a total of 1250 voters delegates in UPI am not here to see the chances for me the candidates that have asked me to contest will be responsible for my victory he addedEarlier on Sunday Kharge had said that he is fighting the Congress Presidential polls because the condition in the country is very bad and he wants to fight themI want to fight because the condition in the country is bad Modi and Shah are doing politics where there is no place for Democracy Agencies like CBI and ED are weakening To fight them I need to have power That is why on the recommendation of delegations I am fighting the polls Kharge had saidDigvijaya Singh pulled out from the race earlier and extended his support to Kharge who he said is a senior and respected leader of the party and against whom he cannot think of contestingSingh was the second Congress leader to pull out of the race after Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced he would not contest the elections following the political turmoil in his stateWith the Gandhis not running for the top post the grand old party is all set to get a nonGandhi president after over 25 yearsThe last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 8 Voting will take place on October 17 and the election results will be declared on October 19The MP from Wayanad Rahul Gandhi is currently leading Bharat Jodo Yatra the 3500km march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir covering as many as 12 states The Yatra started from Kanyakumari and will end in Kashmir the next year by covering 25 km every dayThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever