Bhopal, Sep 30 (IANS): Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee chief Kamal Nath said on Friday that he knew that Digvijaya Singh will not contest the election for the party's president. He claimed that Singh himself conveyed to him this morning that he would not file his nomination as Mallikarjun Kharge was contesting the election.

Kamal Nath made this statement here in Bhopal soon after Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh backed out of the race after the entry of Kharge.

The state Congress chief also made it clear that he would support Kharge.

"Around 8:30 a.m. today, Digvijaya Singh called me and said he would not file his nomination because Mallikarjun Kharge is filing his nomination for the president's post. Digvijaya Singh told me that he was going to meet Kharge. I congratulated him. As far as my view is concerned, I would support Kharge," Kamal Nath said.

He further claimed that Singh has offered to be the 'prastavak (proposer)' for filing Kharge's nomination and accordingly the party's 10 MLAs have been sent to Delhi. "Digvijaya Singh conveyed his decision early morning today, but I did not tell it to anyone because there was no need for it," Kamal Nath added.

Earlier, Kamal Nath had asked Dr. Govind Singh, who is considered close to Singh and at present is the leader of opposition in Madhya Pradesh Assembly to go to Delhi for being Digvijaya's proposer. Govind Singh had given the name of 10 Congress MLAs, namely -- Hina Kanvre, Jitu Patwari, P.C. Sharma, Lakhan Singh, Alok Chaturvedi, Arif Masood, Kantilal Bhuria, Ramlal Malviya, Surendra Singh Baghel, Vipin Vankhede and Kamaleshwar Patel.

All these MLAs reached New Delhi by Thursday. Notably, Digvijaya's son Jaivardhan Singh, who is an MLA from Raghogarh constituency, was not included in the list, however, he also went to Delhi.