New Delhi: The post of All India Congress Committee President, which was held by the Gandhi-Nehru family for the past 24 years, has now come to the hands of Mallikarjuna Kharge, who is known as a staunch loyalist of the Gandhi-Nehru family. Let us now look at the path he traversed.
Student Term: Mallikarjuna Karke was born on July 21, 1942 to Mapanna Kharke and Sabavva of Varavatti village in Palki district of Bidar district, Karnataka. He holds a BA from Government Arts and Science College, Gulbarga, Karnataka and an LLB from SSL Law College, Gulbarga.
Trade unionist: Mallikarjuna Kharge, who contested the student election of the Gulbarga Government College of Arts and Sciences and was elected as the general secretary, started working as a junior in Justice Shivraj Patil’s office after completing his law studies and appeared in trade union cases. In 1969, he acted as legal advisor to the MSK Mill Workers Union and became an influential figure in the Samyukta Mastur Sangam trade union. He led various protests held on behalf of this union for labor rights.
Congress Party and Khargaon: Mallikarjuna Kharge, who joined the Congress at the age of 27 in 1969, took charge as the president of the Gulbarga Municipal Congress Committee. Kharge, who contested the 1972 Legislative Assembly election on behalf of the Congress party and won from the Gurmitkal constituency, served as the Chairman of the Government Leather Development Corporation in 1974 and as the Joint Minister of School Education in 1976.
Mallikarjuna Kharge, who won a second term in the Gurmitkal Assembly constituency in 1978, became the Joint Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj. In 1980, Kharge became the Cabinet Minister for Revenue in Kundu Rao’s Cabinet, then the Chief Minister of Karnataka. In 1983, Kharge became a member of the Legislative Assembly after winning the Gurmitkal constituency for the 3rd time and contested again in the same constituency in 1985. This time Kharge was elected as the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.
In 1989, Mallikarjuna Kharge, who was elected as a member of the Gurmitkal Legislative Assembly for the 5th time, became the Revenue Minister in the Bangarappa Ministry in 1990. From 1992 to 1994, he served as Minister for Cooperatives and Minister for Medium and Large Enterprises in the subsequent Veerappa Moily cabinet.
Kharge, who won the Gurmitkal constituency for the 6th time in 1994, served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly. Kharge won the 1999 assembly elections for the 7th term. This time, he was leading the race for the post of Chief Minister of the state. However, as Chief Minister S.M. Krishna became Home Minister in his cabinet after assuming office.
Karke was the home minister of Karnataka when Veerappan kidnapped Kannada actor Rajkumar. Mallikarjuna Kharge was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the 8th time in 2004. This time too he was leading in the race for the post of Chief Minister. However, Dharam Singh became the Chief Minister. Subsequently, Kharge took charge as Minister of Transport and Water Resources in his cabinet.
Mallikarjuna Kharge, who was appointed as the Karnataka Congress Committee President in 2005, won the 2008 Legislative Assembly elections for the 9th term. This time he took charge as the Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly for the 2nd time.
Mallikarjuna Kharge, who contested and won the Gulbarga parliamentary seat in 2009, contested the same seat in the 2014 parliamentary election and won again. After the Congress lost power in this election, Kharge took over as the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
Kharge contested again from Gulbarga constituency in 2019 parliamentary elections and lost to BJP candidate Umesh Jadhav. This is his first electoral defeat. However, Kharge was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka on 12 June 2020 and served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha since then.
It was in this context that the announcement of the election for the post of All India Congress Committee President was made. Kharge was among the senior leaders who insisted that Rahul Gandhi should contest this election. He was a staunch believer of the Gandhi-Nehru family. The family also has a lot of faith in him.
With no one from the Gandhi-Nehru family running for the post of Congress president, one of their confidants, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Khelat, was slated to contest. However, knowing that his wish to continue as Chief Minister of Rajasthan was unlikely to be fulfilled, Gehlot withdrew from the contest. Subsequently, Mallikarjuna Kharge was fielded in his place.
In the past, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were elected unopposed for the post of All India Congress Committee President. Shashi Tharoor announced that this time there will be competition in the election and he is sure to contest. Kharge asked Shashi Tharoor to avoid the race. However, after Tharoor showed stubbornness, the election for the All India Congress Committee President was held across the country on the 17th. Kharge was fielded as the representative of the Nehru-Gandhi family and his victory was assured even before the votes were counted. Kharge had enough support to say that the votes should be counted to know by how many votes he won.
In this case, the votes registered the day before yesterday were counted on the 19th today at the All India Congress headquarters in Delhi and the results were announced. Kharge won by securing 7,897 votes out of a total of 9,385 votes polled. Sasi Tharoor who contested against him got only 1,072 votes and lost. 416 votes were declared invalid.
Subsequently, Mallikarjuna Kharge was officially announced as the President of the Congress Party. The outgoing Congress president Sonia Gandhi visited Kharge’s residence in Delhi and greeted him in person.
It is a well-known fact that Mallikarjuna Kharge’s success was due to the support of the Gandhi-Nehru family. This is Kharge’s strength. But, many are predicting that this may become his weakness from now on.
Only time will tell whether the name of a leader with independent decision-making personality or a puppet leader of the Gandhi-Nehru family will suit him. Let’s wait and see.