'No Party Worker Big Or Small, Have To Unitedly Fight Fascist Forces': Congress President-Elect Kharge
Mallikarjun Kharge defeated Shashi Tharoor by a massive margin to become the first non-Gandhi chief of Congress after 24 years.
Congress president-elect Mallikarjun Kharge said on Wednesday that "no party worker was big or small" and they would have to unitedly fight against the fascist forces that are attacking the democratic institutions of the country under the garb of communalism. Mallikarjun Kharge will formally take charge as Congress president on October 26.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Kharge said all karyakartas of the party need to work together to strengthen the Congress.
"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," Kharge said.
Mallikarjun Kharge defeated Shashi Tharoor by a massive margin to become the first non-Gandhi chief of Congress after 24 years. The 80-year-old leader succeeds Sonia Gandhi at the grand old party's highest office.
"I want to congratulate my partner Shashi Tharoor as well. I met him and discussed how to take the party forward. I want to thank Sonia Gandhi on behalf of all party workers. Under her leadership, we formed our govt in the Centre twice," Kharge further said.
According to Congress Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry, a total of 9,385 votes were cast, out of which Mallikarjun Kharge received 7,897 votes and Shashi Tharoor received 1,072, while 416 votes were invalid.
Kharge becomes the second Dalit president of the Congress after Jagjivan Ram, who became the chief after the party's split in 1969.
This is perhaps the most important post the octogenarian Dalit leader will hold in his political career after he missed three opportunities previously to become the chief minister of Karnataka.
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Kharge has contested 12 elections and lost only once - in 2019 (when BJP captured 25 out of the 28 Parliament seats in Karnataka). He was elected to the Karnataka assembly nine times consecutively between 1972 and 2008, earning him the sobriquet of "Solilada Sardara" (invincible leader).
He shot into the limelight of national politics after his win to the Lok Sabha from Gulbarga in 2009. He also won from the constituency in 2014.
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