Newly elected President of Indian National Congress Mallikarjun Kharge will take charge today (October 26) at All India Congress Committee (AICC) Headquarters in Delhi. Kharge will be the first non-Gandhi to hold office after 24 years
All the members of Congress Working Committee, MPs, State Congress Committee President, Congress Legislature Party leaders, former Chief Minister, State President and other office bearers of AICC are likely to be present during the oath ceremony.
The party’s general secretary organization KC Venugopal has sent invitations to the above stakeholders.
In the Congress Presidential election held on October 17, he defeated his rival Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor by a huge margin. In the presidential election, Kharge got 7,897 votes while his rival Tharoor got 1,072 votes.
Kharge is the second Dalit president in five decades after Jagjivan Ram became the Congress president in 1970. The former Union Railway Minister was born on July 21, 1942 in Bidar district of Karnataka and studied in a Marathi medium government school.
Soon after his electoral victory, Kharge said the party had set an example to “strengthen the country’s democracy by holding organizational elections” at a time when “democracy is in danger” in the country.
He said that the Congress has continuously strengthened democracy and protected the Constitution in the country’s 75-year history.
He said, “Now that democracy is in danger and the Constitution is under attack, and every institution is being destroyed, Congress has set an example to strengthen the democracy of the country by conducting organizational elections at the national level. Thank you to everyone involved.” ,
Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra reached home and congratulated him on being elected the new president of the party.
Rahul Gandhi also extended his best wishes to Kharge and said the post for which he has been elected “represents India’s democratic vision”.
The Congress is hoping to resolve the Rajasthan Congress crisis soon after Kharge took over, news agency PTI reported.
Besides this, Kharge will soon visit electoral states like Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.
Kharge joined the Congress in 1969, the year the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was expelled from the grand old party. He became the President of Kalaburagi Town Congress Committee in the same year at the age of only 27.
Kharge is a Bachelor of Arts from Government College, Kalaburgi. He also holds a law degree from Seth Shankarlal Lahoti Law College, Kalaburagi. A labor law expert, he practiced under Shivraj Patil, who later became a Supreme Court judge.
He is popularly known as ‘Solialda Sardar’, meaning the undefeated chieftain, as he was elected nine consecutive terms to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly between 1972 and 2008. He had also won from Gulbarga Lok Sabha constituency in 2009 and 2014.
Kharge and wife Radhabai have three sons – Rahul, Priyank and Milind – and two daughters – Priyadarshini and Jayshree.