'No party worker big or small': Mallikarjun Kharge to take charge as Congress president on October 26

Congress President-elect Mallikarjun Kharge has said no one in the party is big or small and he will work as a true Congress soldier to strengthen the organisation. He will take charge as Congress President on October 26, Congress MP Randeep Surjewala announced on Wednesday. Kharge will be the first non-Gandhi Congress president after over 24 years.

Addressing a press conference hours after winning the party polls, he said, "We all have to work like workers of the party, nobody is big or small in the party. We have to unitedly fight against the fascist forces that are attacking the democratic institutions under the garb of communalism." "We have to together fight the threat to democracy and the Constitution," he added.

Delhi  We all have to work like workers of the party, nobody is big or small in the party. We have to unitedly fight against the fascist forces that are attacking the democratic institutions under the garb of communalism Congress President-elect Mallikarjun Kharge pic.twitter.com/LWlVoEOVRs

— ANI (@ANI) October 19, 2022

Meanwhile, Shashi Tharoor who contested against Kharge said, "We should consider Kharge Ji's victory as the victory of the Congress party. This election was never about a person but always about the party. I always wanted to strengthen the party because strengthening Congress is very important for the country."

Kharge, 80, was seen as the "establishment`s candidate" against Shashi Tharoor and polled 7,897 votes against 1072 received by his rival. A leader who has risen from the grassroots, Kharge belongs to the Dalit community and will be the second leader from Karnataka to hold the top party post after S Nijalingappa became the Congress president in 1968.

In over five decades experience in active politics, Kharge has been a union minister, Congress leader in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and has held several portfolios in Karnataka where he was MLA nine times.

A combative, articulate and accessible politician who is comfortable both in Hindi and English, Kharge has been a strong critic of the BJP-led government. He faces major challenges to work out strategies in terms of Congress revival in Hindi heartland states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar as also in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

(With inputs from PTI) 

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