Kharge is Bhishma Pitamah, I will represent my ideas: Shashi Tharoor

After filing his nomination for the Congress party’s top post, Shashi Tharoor said that he would not withdraw his nomination after the entry of another veteran, Mallikarjun Kharge.

While addressing the media persons after filing his nomination at the AICC office, Tharoor said, "Those who would like to continue the status quo would not be inclined to vote for me because I represent change, a different approach, and a vision to take the party forward in a different way, as for some years we've been suffering setbacks."

Terming Kharge as ‘Bhishma Pitamah’ of the grand old party, Tharoor said he would not say anything negative about him and other party leaders like Digvijaya Singh.

"We're not enemies/rivals, we're colleagues and we're interested in seeing party going forward... LoP RS Mallikarjun Kharge is the 'Bhishma Pitamah' of our party. Let party workers decide how to proceed. I won't say anything negative about Kharge, Digvijaya Singh, Tripathi," said Tharoor.

Amid the political turmoil in Rajasthan and Ashok Gehlot’s exit from Congress presidential election, Tharoor said that his filing of nominations against the other leaders of the party is a ‘friendly contest’ which is not intended to ‘disrespect anyone’.

"Congress President Sonia Gandhi assured me that the party has no official candidate, the Gandhi family will stay neutral in this race and they welcome as many candidates as possible. In that spirit, I put forward my candidacy. It's not to disrespect anyone; a friendly contest," he said.

Recently, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced that he will not contest the Congress presidential election after the political crisis in his state. Meanwhile, Sachin Pilot also met the grand old party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi.

Earlier, both Digvijaya Singh and Ashok Gehlot stated that they have dropped out of the race.

Mallikarjun Kharge, the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha also filed his nomination for the Congress presidential election today.

Nominations for the post of Congress president closed at 3 pm today and results will be declared on October 19.