RS Leader of Opposition Kharge resigns; Digvijaya, Chidambaram vie for his position
According to sources, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge has resigned as Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, a day after he filed his nomination papers for the AICC presidency.
Announcing Kharge’s resignation at Udaipur’s Chintan Shivir on May 25, the 80-year-old leader sent it to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in compliance with the party’s stated ‘One person, One post’ principle.
Kharge sent the resignation letter last night, according to the sources.
As of now, it is understood that P Chidambaram and Digvijaya Singh are the front-runners for the position of Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.
Kharge and Shashi Tharoor were set to face off in a contest for the post of Congress president. Dalit leader Kharge from Karnataka has emerged as the clear front-runner.
A third candidate in the race, K N Tripathi, a former minister of Jharkhand. Tripathi is considered to be lightweight.
Kharge, Tharoor, and Tripathi filed their nominations on the last day of the nomination process when workers were swarming the AICC headquarters for the first time in a long time.
As part of his 14 nomination papers, Kharge has been accompanied by top Congress leaders, including Ashok Gehlot, Digvijaya Singh, A K Antony, Ambika Soni, Mukul Wasnik, and members of the G-23 ginger group, including Anand Sharma, Bhupinder Hooda, Prithviraj Chavan, and Manish Tewari.
