Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has opted out of the race for the Congress presidential poll. He will, instead, be a proposer for Mallikarjun Kharge, who is filing nomination on Friday.

Speaking to the media, Singh said, "He is our senior and I have told him that I will be your proposer and my commitment is towards the Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi family."

Another Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said, "I am going to sign papers for Khargeji."

Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge will file his nomination for the party presidential polls after meeting interim president Sonia Gandhi on Friday, the last day of filing nomination papers for the post.

Earlier in the day, Congress' Digvijaya Singh met Kharge at the latter's residence after Kharge emerged as the top choice of Gandhis for the party presidential polls. It is being said that after Kharge's name cropped up, Singh decided to withdraw from the race.

Late Thursday night, the G-23 leaders, including Manish Tewari, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Prithviraj Chavan met at Anand Sharma's residence, but did not divulge details of the meeting.

One of the most vocal G-23 faces, Manish Tewari on Friday said that it was time to strengthen the party and termed the recent events in Rajasthan as unfortunate.

"Leadership, Ideological clarity, narrative & transparent access to resources are pillars of 'A' political party, Given recent unfortunate events it's time to close ranks & strengthen @INCIndia recalling wise words of @CitiznMukherjee Y'Y& work for a Consensus & effective Presidency," Tewari said in his tweet.

Now that Mallikarjun Kharge has thrown his hat in the ring, it is likely that there may be a bipolar contest with Shashi Tharoor also filing his nomination.