Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge has resigned from the post of Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge has resigned from the post of Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

Sources gave this information on Saturday.

Kharge took this step a day after he filed his nomination papers for the post of All India Congress Committee (AICC) president.

The 80-year-old leader has sent his resignation letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

He has taken this step in accordance with the principle of 'one person one post' set in 'Chintan Shivir' organized in Udaipur in May.

Sources said Mallikarjun Kharge submitted his resignation on Friday night.

According to sources, it is believed that senior leaders P Chidambaram and Digvijay Singh are the frontrunners in the race for the post of Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

Significantly, it became clear on Friday that the main contest for the post of Congress President will be between Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor.

Kharge is a Dalit leader from Karnataka and has emerged as a strong contender for the post.

The third contender for the post of Congress President is KN Tripathi, who has been a former minister of Jharkhand.

However, he is being considered a weak candidate in this election.

It is noteworthy that Kharge, Tharoor and Tripathi had filed their nomination papers on the last day of nomination for the post of Congress President.

Mallikarjun Kharge filed nominations in 14 sets and his proposers include Ashok Gehlot, Digvijay Singh, AK Antony, Ambika Soni, Mukul Wasnik and G-23 members Anand Sharma, Bhupendra Hooda, Prithviraj Chavan and Manish Tewari.

Big news: Shashi Tharoor-Mallikarjun Kharge face to face, both filled the form on the last day of nomination