Kharge was handed over the certificate of election as the Congress president by the party’s central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry. Mistry said he hopes other parties will draw a lesson from the Congress and hold polls for party presidency by secret ballot.
Outgoing Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former chief Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were also present at the event on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Kharge had visited Rajghat and paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi. He also visited the memorials of former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi and former deputy prime minister Jagjivan Ram, and paid his tributes.
Kharge thanks party for making a worker’s son the party chief: Top quotes
*”It’s an emotional moment for me … want to thank the Congress for making a worker’s son, ordinary worker the president of party, Kharge said after taking charge.
*”I know it is a difficult time, and efforts are being made to change the democracy established by the Congress,” he said.
*The Congress will break circle of lies, hatred prevailing. I appeal to people, who are not aligned with the party but want to save the democracy, to join hands,” Kharge added.
*He also hailed Rahul Gandhi for embarking on Bharat Jodo Yatra, saying “It is filling country with new energy.
Udaipur Declaration’s proposal of 50 per cent party posts to be given to those aged below 50 will be implemented.
A leader who rose from the grassroots: A look at his career
*A leader who has risen from the grassroots, Kharge belongs to the Dalit community and will 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 the Hindi heartland states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar as also in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The Congress has seen an erosion in its base in some other states including in the northeast. AAP is also seeking to emerge as a challenger in some states.
*While Kharge’s immediate challenges are the assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat which will go the polls later this year, several other states including his home state Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan will go the polls next year before the crucial battle in the 2024 general election.
*Many senior party leaders have left Congress in recent months and years and the Congress debacle in Punjab and Uttarakhand assembly polls earlier this year has been blamed on the choices party leadership made in these states.
*Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is on Bharat Jodo Yatra, indicated that Kharge will decide his role. With Kharge’s election as the new party chief, the Congress will seek to blunt the BJP’s attack on it over “family-oriented politics”.
*Kharge has taken over as the party chief from Sonia Gandhi, who was serving as interim chief after Rahul Gandhi stepped down following the party’s debacle in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Sonia Gandhi had earlier steered the party for 19 years and played a pivotal role in the formation of two UPA governments.
*A former union minister of Labour and Railways, Kharge resigned as Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha to contest the presidential polls in accordance with the one person, one post norm.
*Born on July 21, 1942, Kharge was active in student politics and was general secretary in 1964-65 of the Students Union in Government Arts and Science College in Gulbarga.
*He was vice president of the Students Union Law College, Gulbarga, in 1966-67 and became president of the Gulbarga City Congress Committee in 1969.
*Kharge served as MLA in Karnataka nine times between 1972 and 2009 and held several portfolios as minister including education, revenue, rural development and large and medium industry, transport and water resources.
*He was president of Karnataka Congress from 2005 to 2008 and also served as Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly from 1996-99 and 2008-09.
*He was elected to Lok Sabha in 2009 and 2014 and elected to Rajya Sabha in 2020. As Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha, he raised various issues vociferously.
*Kharge was seen as a top contender for the CM post in Karnataka several times but never got the role. Kharge did not protest and continued to work as a disciplined party worker.
*Kharge is credited with several initiatives in his ministerial tenures. As Union Minister, he revamped the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, extended insurance and benefits for workers in both organised and unorganised sectors and ESIC hospitals throughout the country were modernized.
*As Railway Minister, he gave emphasis to funding projects in the northeastern states in the railway budget and initiated reforms such as creation of the Rail Tariff Regulatory Authority.
(With inputs from agencies)