Mallikarjun Kharge to formally take over as Congress president

By PTI

NEW DELHI: Veteran chief Mallikarjun Kharge will formally take over as Congress president on Wednesday after he’s handed over the certificates of election at a operate right here.

Hectic preparations had been underway on the Congress headquarters on Tuesday for the ceremony the place outgoing president Sonia Gandhi will hand over the reins to Kharge, the primary non-Gandhi to move the get together in 24 years.

Kharge defeated Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor in a direct contest for the highest put up within the grand previous get together after the Gandhis opted out of the race.

Ahead of his taking on, Kharge referred to as on former prime minister Manmohan Singh at his residence and spent a while with him.

On Wednesday morning, Kharge can pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat and in addition go to memorials of former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, moreover former deputy prime minister Jagjivan Ram.

Meanwhile, safety personnel and employees made last-minute preparations within the Congress president’s workplace and on the AICC headquarters lawns the place a tent was being put up.

Chairman of the central election authority of the Congress Madhusudan Mistry will formally hand over the election certificates to Kharge at Wednesday’s operate, which will even see the presence of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

Kharge, 80, takes cost of the get together at a time when it faces a troublesome problem from a formidable BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which has ousted the Congress from many states.

For Kharge, who has served as a pacesetter of the opposition within the Karnataka Assembly, chief of Congress in Lok Sabha and chief of the opposition in Rajya Sabha, the present task comes at a time when the get together is at a historic low, electorally.

With the Congress now remaining in energy in solely two states — Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh — by itself and as a junior associate in Jharkhand, Kharge’s first problem is to deliver the get together to energy in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, which go to polls within the subsequent few weeks.

Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh will likely be held on November 12.

The dates for the Gujarat polls are but to be introduced.

In 2023, Kharge will face the onerous activity of main the Congress in 9 meeting elections, together with in his residence state of Karnataka the place he was an MLA for 9 phrases.

Kharge’s election additionally comes at a time the get together is reeling beneath inside rumblings and high-profile exits after a sequence of electoral debacles and has been diminished to a shadow of its former formidable self.

Beginning his profession as chief of the Gulbarga metropolis council, Kharge has additionally served as a state minister and a Lok Sabha MP from Gulbarga (2009 and 2014).

The previous warhorse is well-known for not dropping an election barring the 2019 Lok Sabha ballot from Gulbarga.

It was after that loss that Sonia Gandhi introduced Kharge to Rajya Sabha and in February 2021 made him the chief of the opposition.

Kharge additionally faces the problem of restoring the Congress’ primacy within the opposition house, implementing radical reforms the get together pledged on the mid-May ‘Chintan Shivir’ in Udaipur and sustaining his independence within the face of insinuations that he’s a candidate of the Gandhis and would search their approval in all choices.

The final non-Gandhi Congress president was Sitaram Kesri, who was unceremoniously eliminated in 1998 simply after two years into his five-year time period.

A pacesetter with greater than 50 years of expertise in politics, Kharge can also be the second All India Congress Committee (AICC) president from Karnataka after S Nijalingappa and in addition the second Dalit chief after Jagjivan Ram to carry the put up.

NEW DELHI: Veteran chief Mallikarjun Kharge will formally take over as Congress president on Wednesday after he’s handed over the certificates of election at a operate right here.

Hectic preparations had been underway on the Congress headquarters on Tuesday for the ceremony the place outgoing president Sonia Gandhi will hand over the reins to Kharge, the primary non-Gandhi to move the get together in 24 years.

Kharge defeated Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor in a direct contest for the highest put up within the grand previous get together after the Gandhis opted out of the race.

Ahead of his taking on, Kharge referred to as on former prime minister Manmohan Singh at his residence and spent a while with him.

On Wednesday morning, Kharge can pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat and in addition go to memorials of former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, moreover former deputy prime minister Jagjivan Ram.

Meanwhile, safety personnel and employees made last-minute preparations within the Congress president’s workplace and on the AICC headquarters lawns the place a tent was being put up.

Chairman of the central election authority of the Congress Madhusudan Mistry will formally hand over the election certificates to Kharge at Wednesday’s operate, which will even see the presence of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

Kharge, 80, takes cost of the get together at a time when it faces a troublesome problem from a formidable BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which has ousted the Congress from many states.

For Kharge, who has served as a pacesetter of the opposition within the Karnataka Assembly, chief of Congress in Lok Sabha and chief of the opposition in Rajya Sabha, the present task comes at a time when the get together is at a historic low, electorally.

With the Congress now remaining in energy in solely two states — Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh — by itself and as a junior associate in Jharkhand, Kharge’s first problem is to deliver the get together to energy in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, which go to polls within the subsequent few weeks.

Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh will likely be held on November 12.

The dates for the Gujarat polls are but to be introduced.

In 2023, Kharge will face the onerous activity of main the Congress in 9 meeting elections, together with in his residence state of Karnataka the place he was an MLA for 9 phrases.

Kharge’s election additionally comes at a time the get together is reeling beneath inside rumblings and high-profile exits after a sequence of electoral debacles and has been diminished to a shadow of its former formidable self.

Beginning his profession as chief of the Gulbarga metropolis council, Kharge has additionally served as a state minister and a Lok Sabha MP from Gulbarga (2009 and 2014).

The previous warhorse is well-known for not dropping an election barring the 2019 Lok Sabha ballot from Gulbarga.

It was after that loss that Sonia Gandhi introduced Kharge to Rajya Sabha and in February 2021 made him the chief of the opposition.

Kharge additionally faces the problem of restoring the Congress’ primacy within the opposition house, implementing radical reforms the get together pledged on the mid-May ‘Chintan Shivir’ in Udaipur and sustaining his independence within the face of insinuations that he’s a candidate of the Gandhis and would search their approval in all choices.

The final non-Gandhi Congress president was Sitaram Kesri, who was unceremoniously eliminated in 1998 simply after two years into his five-year time period.

A pacesetter with greater than 50 years of expertise in politics, Kharge can also be the second All India Congress Committee (AICC) president from Karnataka after S Nijalingappa and in addition the second Dalit chief after Jagjivan Ram to carry the put up.