Kharge is the third Dalit chief of the Congress after D Sanjeevaiah (1962) and Jagjivan Ram (December 1969).
After nearly five hours of counting, AICC election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry announced that Kharge received 7,897 (84%) of the total 9,385 votes against Tharoor’s 1,072. After scrutiny, 416 votes were declared invalid.
Kharge’s work: A great balancing act
In his first remarks after becoming elected president of the Congress, Mallikarjun Kharge highlighted the “sacrifice of Sonia Gandhi, who nurtured the party for 23 years”, and the “initiatives of Rahul Gandhi”, creating a mass movement against bigotry. – thereby reiterating the primacy of the Gandhi family in spite of deviating from the formal authority.
For the sociable old man, who takes charge of the Congress at its most critical juncture, the most difficult challenge comes from the experiment of installing a non-Gandhi president after a gap of 24 years.
It is more of a power-sharing, with the political leadership being represented by Gandhi while the AICC executive is headed by Kharge.
Forced by Rahul Gandhi’s insistence against everyone’s wishes, Uncharted Territory gives Kharge the responsibility of developing a system that will balance the twin arms without causing disturbance. Given the story he had to endure, and the hard-fought rebuke for the presidential election, the quintessential loyalist knows he would be susceptible to the accusation of “remote control”.
Personally, Rahul on Wednesday tried to facilitate matters by telling the media that his political role would be decided by Kharge, to whom all party workers would now report.
Kharge told reporters that Rahul had called to congratulate him, while the senior leader expressed happiness that Rahul got time to call from his hectic travel schedule.
A seamless inner working would be necessary for Kharge to assert authority over the cadres, which would help him move forward with his potentially major mandate of coordination and management – a move in the wake of the Congress’s political marginalization after 2014, largely factionalism. important tasks, and a non-stop escape from the party ranks.
Speaking to the media, Kharge, who will assume office on October 26, sought to reach out to the workers with a call for unity.
“No one is small or big and we have to work like karyakartas to strengthen the organization,” he said. Taking a jibe at the ruling BJP and PM Modi, he said, “We have to fight together for democracy and constitution. We have to fight the fascist forces… which are attacking democracy and the people of the country.”