Ending weeks of speculation, India's Rajasthan state chief Ashok Gehlot on Friday confirmed that he will file his nomination for the post of Congress president.
"It's decided that I'll contest (for the post of Congress President). I'll fix the date soon (to file nomination). It's a need for the Opposition to be strong, looking at the current position of the country," Gehlot told the media in Kerala on Friday.
Gehlot is widely seen as the frontrunner to become the next Congress chief due to his proximity with the Gandhis, including current boss Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi.
He also revealed that no member of the Gandhi family would contest in the polls for the party's top post as former party head Rahul Gandhi declined to return for Congress president.
Rahul Gandhi remained party chief from 2017 to 2019, before resigning after Congress suffered a drubbing in the 2019 national polls.
At the time, Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power with a thumping majority for the second time in a row, with 303 lawmakers, while Congress could only manage to secure victory in 52 seats.
"I said earlier that I will request [Rahul Gandhi] to accept this post when all the Congress Committees are passing resolutions in this regard. He made it clear that no one from the Gandhi family will become the next chief. He said he has decided this due to some reasons, a non-Gandhi family member will become the party chief," Gehlot added.
Other prominent names that are reportedly in the race for Congress president are Kerala parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor, as well as former Madhya Pradesh state chiefs Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh.
Meanwhile, there have been a few more additions to the list in recent days, with media reports suggesting that ex-state chiefs of Maharashtra and Karnataka, namely Prithviraj Chavan and Siddaramaiah, are also in the fray.