Veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday took over as the president of the Congress party to become the first non-Gandhi party president after a gap of 24 years. He thanked the party for making a 'majdoor ka beta' the president of the party. "I have worked my way up from the bottom and today I stand in front of you at this post. I have faced all struggles that any worker faces and for that reason, I can say we will face all obstacles together," he said.
Launching a scathing attack on thee BJP, he said, "In New India, hunger, and pollution are increasing but the Rupee is falling. The government is sleeping but CBI, ED, and IT are working 24 hours. In new India, Godse is called a patriot & Mahatma Gandhi is an anti-national. They want to bring the constitution of RSS."
He added, "To make a new India, they want Congress-free India as they know that as long as Congress is there, they can't do it. We will not let it happen and will continue to fight against it."
Kharge said it was an emotional moment for him and he would like to thank Congress people for making a worker's son and an ordinary worker, president of the party. "I know it is a difficult time, efforts are being made to change democracy established by Congress," the 80-year-old leader said after taking over as party chief.
"The Congress will break this system of lies and hatred that is prevailing in the country," he said. Kharge also hailed Rahul Gandhi for embarking on the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which, he said, is filling the country with a new energy.
Kharge said the Udaipur Declaration's proposals such as 50 per cent party posts to be given to those below 50 years of age, filling up organisational vacancies, setting up public insight department and election management department, establishing political affairs committee in states, will be implemented.
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 which was attended by several top party leaders.
Kharge defeated Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor in a direct contest for the top post in the grand old party after the Gandhis opted out of the race.
Ahead of his taking over, Kharge called on former prime minister Manmohan Singh at his residence and spent some time with him.
Kharge, 80, takes charge of the party at a time when it faces a tough challenge from a formidable BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which has ousted the Congress from many states.
For Kharge, who has served as a leader of the opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, leader of Congress in Lok Sabha and later leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha, the current assignment comes at a time when the party is at a historic low, electorally.
With the Congress now remaining in power in only two states -- Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh -- on its own and as a junior partner in Jharkhand, Kharge's first challenge is to bring the party to power in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, which go to polls in the next few weeks.
Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh are on November 12. The dates for Gujarat polls are yet to be announced.
In 2023, Kharge will face the onerous task of leading the Congress in nine assembly elections, including in his home state of Karnataka where he was an MLA for nine terms.
Kharge's election also comes at a time the party is reeling under internal rumblings and high-profile exits after a series of electoral debacles and has been reduced to a shadow of its former formidable self.
Beginning his career as chief of the Gulbarga city council, Kharge has also served as a state minister and a Lok Sabha MP from Gulbarga (2009 and 2014).
The old warhorse is well-known for not losing an election barring the 2019 Lok Sabha poll from Gulbarga.
It was after that loss that Sonia Gandhi brought Kharge to the Rajya Sabha and in February 2021 made him the leader of the opposition.
Kharge also faces the challenge of restoring the Congress' primacy in the opposition space, implementing radical reforms the party pledged at the mid-May Chintan Shivir in Udaipur and maintaining his independence in the face of insinuations that he is a candidate of the Gandhis and would seek their approval in all decisions.
The last non-Gandhi Congress president was Sitaram Kesri, who was unceremoniously removed in 1998 just after two years into his five-year term.
A leader with more than 50 years of experience in politics, Kharge is also the second All India Congress Committee (AICC) president from Karnataka after S Nijalingappa and also the second Dalit leader after Jagjivan Ram to hold the post.