NEW DELHI: Rejecting reports that senior Congress leaders were shying away from contesting the Lok Sabha polls, party president Mallikarjun Kharge said that if workers asked him to contest he may do so.

Kharge, however indicated that he may not enter the poll fray this time with age being a factor.

The Congress chief has been a Lok Sabha member from Karnataka’s Gulbarga seat since 2009 but lost the seat in 2019.

Asked about reports that senior leaders were opting out of contesting the Lok Sabha polls, Kharge said, "It is wrong that we are backing out.I am 83-years-old, you (journalists) retire at 65.So I am 83."

"If given a chance, everyone goes and tells our party workers (that I should fight).If they say then I will definitely fight. Look, sometimes we are at the back, sometimes we are ar the forefront, we also have a list of ten people asking for the same seat," he said.

On another question about the comparison between Modi's guarantee and that of the Congress, Kharge said, "They stole our guarantee. We started in Karnataka, won the elections, later we did it in Telangana. Modi Saheb is stealing our guarantee and saying 'this is our guarantee'.