New Delhi: Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, who will complete one year as the first non-Gandhi president in 24 years on October 19, has played the role successfully, party leaders said on Wednesday.
Kharge was elected to the top party post on October 19, 2022, defeating his rival Shashi Tharoor in internal polls in which over 9,000 delegates from across the country voted. The Congress had its last non-Gandhi president in 1996 when Sitaram Kesri was elected to the top party post defeating Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot.
According to party leaders, Kharge has played the role successfully despite being 80 years old. “He has provided stability to the party organization. He has reconstituted the Congress Working Committee and made several changes in the organization gradually. Within the party, he is regarded by all. Under his presidency, the party won the Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka assembly polls last year. He supervised Rahul Gandhi’s nationwide Bharat Jodo Yatra and has been campaigning in the poll-bound states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana. As leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha he had been coordinating with the opposition leaders and played a key role in the formation of the INDIA alliance to take on the BJP in 2024,” CWC member Avinash Pande told ETV Bharat.
Recalling the events over the past year, AICC secretary BM Sandeep Kumar said Kharge’s election proved the democratic credentials of the Congress. “Kharge’s election proved the democratic credentials of the party in the eyes of the people. As party chief, he has been able to motivate the marginalized sections who now find the Congress attractive. We got Dalit votes in Karnataka because of his appeal. The party has launched a nationwide initiative to develop the leadership of the marginalized sections under his guidance,” Kumar said.
“Now the BJP is not able to target us as a dynastic party. They are finding other ways to malign our leader Rahul Gandhi but that is not working. After the yatra, people have realized the real Rahul Gandhi as he is taking up the relevant issues like unemployment and price rise and questioning the central government,” he said.
Party leaders further said that though incremental changes have been made to the party organization, the unveiling of the new AICC team for the 2024 polls is still awaited but could be done anytime. “I think the one visible change over the past year is that the Congress is going to the five assembly polls in November very aggressively under Kharge’s presidency. These state polls are being seen as a semi-final for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the INDIA alliance has unnerved the BJP,” said Kumar.
Party insiders said Kharge’s nomination for the top party post had been supported by several senior dissenters known as the G23 who have been involved in various party roles over the past year and are now happy.
Two of the G23 members, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had attended Kharge’s filing of nomination while Anand Sharma is a CWC member and Manish Tewari a permanent member of the CWC, said party insiders.
