Only Rahul Can Challenge Modi, Says Ashok Gehlot As Mallikarjun Kharge Readies To Take Over as Congress President

As Mallikarjun Kharge prepares to take charge as the Congress president, senior leader and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said only Rahul Gandhi can challenge Prime Minister Modi.

Efforts were made to make Rahul Gandhi the party president as only he can challenge Modi and the government, senior Congress leader and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said as veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge readies to take charge as the president of the party shortly.

He further said that it was Rahul Gandhi's desire that a non-Gandhi should once become the President of the party. "It was Rahul Gandhi's desire that for once a non-Gandhi should become the President of the party," Gehlot said.

Ashok Gehlot also congratulated Mallikarjun Kharge and promised to work to strengthen the party. "Today is a new beginning. We congratulate Mallikarjun Kharge Ji and will work to strengthen the party," Gehlot said.

Veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge will formally take over as Congress president todat after he is handed over the certificate of election and the baton by Sonia Gandhi at a function in New Delhi. Hectic preparations were underway at the Congress headquarters for the ceremony where party president Sonia Gandhi will hand over the baton to her successor, Mallikarjun Kharge, the first non-Gandhi to head the outfit in 24 years.

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.

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.