Mallikarjun Kharge has become the new president of the Congress. He defeated Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor to win the party presidential election with 7,897 votes. Tharoor bagged just over 1072 votes.

Why the Gandhis chose Kharge?

Mallikarjun Kharge, who lost out in the race for Karnataka chief ministership thrice in 1999, 2004 and 2013, is a staunch loyalist of the Gandhi family. The 80-year-old is the most prominent Dalit face of the Congress as well.

Despite not being chosen as the Karnataka CM, the nine-time MLA never rebelled, Indian Express reported.

Known to be gentle and soft-spoken, sober by temperament, Kharge has never been part of any political controversy. Born in a poor family, he studied and practised law prior to joining the Congress. He follows Buddhism.

If Kharge wins the contest, he will become the sixth leader from the South to hold the post of the Congress president since Independence. Prior to him, B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya, N. Sanjiva Reddy, K. Kamaraj, S. Nijalingappa and P.V. Narasimha Rao were all leaders from the south Indian states to become Congress president.

Who is Mallikarjun Kharge?

Kharge was born on July 21, 1942 in Varawatti, Karnataka, to Mapanna Kharge and Sabavva. He studied law from S.S.L. Law College, Gulbarga, Karnataka. He started his career as a student leader and joined the Congress party in 1969.

As a student union leader, Kharge took part in agitations for the rights of labourers. He was later elected general secretary of the students’ body of the government college in Gulbarga. As an influential labour union leader of Samyukta Majdoor Sangha, Kharge became the president of the Gulbarga City Congress Committee. In 1972, he fought his first election from Gurmitkal constituency, India Today reported.

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A former president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress, Kharge was elected as an MLA nine times and has also been a Lok Sabha MP twice. The first time Kharge became a minister was in 1976 in the Devaraj Urs government. In Karnataka, Kharge was a minister in Congress governments under R. Gundu Rao in 1980, S. Bangarappa in 1990 and M. Veerappa Moily from 1992 to 1994. In 1996-99 and 2008-09, he served as the leader of the Opposition, and from 2005-2008, he remained the president of the state Congress.

In 2009, Kharge moved to national politics and entered the Lok Sabha for the first time.

At the national level, Kharge had played an important role in the UPA government and the Congress party organisation. Between May 2009 and June 2013, Kharge held the post of the minister of labour and employment. He was later made the union railway minister from June 2013 to May 2014.

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In 2014, after the humiliating defeat of the Congress in the general elections, Kharge, who won from Gulbarga, was made leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha. During the elections, the Congress was reduced to only 44 members in the Lower House. It was with reference to this strength that Kharge had famously said: “We may be 44 in the Lok Sabha, but the Pandavas will never be intimidated by a hundred Kauravas.”

Kharge has lost the elections only once in his political career in 2018. After his defeat, he was made a member of the Rajya Sabha. Since 2021, he has been the leader of the Opposition in the Upper House.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)

First Published:Sept 30, 2022 6:30 PM IST