- Gehlot is scheduled to go on an election tour of Gujarat from October 28.
- Veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge formally takes over as Congress president on Wednesday
- In the coming Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat elections, everyone in the party would have to put in all their strength and united efforts to help emerge victorious as the people of these states want a change: Kharge.
NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, OCT 26
Terming Sonia Gandhi’s guidance as invaluable for the Congress party, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, on Wednesday, said the change of guard is an emotional moment for all partymen.
आपके त्याग और समर्पण के लिए…
शुक्रिया! सोनिया गांधी जी pic.twitter.com/b0g4Ptt92L
— Congress (@INCIndia) October 26, 2022
“When Sonia Gandhi took over as Congress president in 1998, the party did not have a government at the Centre and it had many challenges in the states too. After she took over as party president, the Congress won in all states, including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.
After a 3-day break for Diwali and Kharge-ji's taking over, #BharatJodoYatra will resume at 6am tomorrow from Makhtal in Narayanpet district of Telangana. Farmer interactions will take place at 2pm, as always. Bharat Yatris including @RahulGandhi are refreshed & eager to restart.
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) October 26, 2022
In 2004 and 2009, the UPA government was formed at the Centre by defeating the BJP, he said.
Veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge formally took over as Congress president on Wednesday and said the party will break the “system of lies and hatred” prevailing under the current government.
Sonia ji has been our guiding light. She anchored the Congress party through difficult times, through highs and lows, personifying the values of courage, sacrifice, grace and respect.
She will always remain our source of strength as the party gears up for the future challenges. pic.twitter.com/c2tAbeZn8L
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) October 26, 2022
Kharge, the first non-Gandhi to head the party in 24 years, had defeated Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor in a direct contest for the president’s post in the grand old party after the Gandhis opted out of the race.
Gehlot also hailed Sonia Gandhi’s spirit of sacrifice, affection and belongingness.
“Sonia ji even gave up the post of prime minister and always ran the party like a family. Due to this spirit of sacrifice, affection and belongingness, the party united under her leadership and formed the UPA by forming alliances with many parties.
“Those who were opposed to Sonia ji when she entered politics became her admirers. Today, Sonia Gandhi leaving the post of Congress president is an emotional moment for all Congressmen, he added.
Gehlot, who attended the swearing-in ceremony of Kharge in Delhi, is scheduled to go on an election tour of Gujarat from October 28.
An arduous journey awaits Mallikarjun Kharge
The 80-year-old veteran’s elevation in the 137-year-old party is also intended to shed its image that it is a family-run outfit, at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched an all-out attack on the so-called ”dynastic parties”, alleging that “family-owned” parties are the biggest threat to democracy.
श्री मल्लिकार्जुन खरगे जी का जीवन मेहनत और संघर्ष की एक मिसाल है। उनके अनुभवी और कुशल नेतृत्व के साथ हम कांग्रेस को और मजबूत कर, सामने आने वाली चुनौतियों का डटकर सामना करेंगे।
एक नज़र में देखिए कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष श्री @kharge जी का राजनीतिक सफ़र- #CongressPresidentKharge pic.twitter.com/Bj9r9hCZC9
— Congress (@INCIndia) October 26, 2022
Kharge also faces the challenge of restoring the Congress party’s 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 an “establishment” candidate and would seek the approval of Gandhis in all decisions.
He is the first non-Gandhi to take over the party after 24 years and the second Dalit leader to hold the post in 50 years after Jagjivan Ram led the Congress in 1969.
For Kharge, who has served as the leader of the opposition in the Karnataka assembly, leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha and later the leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha, the current assignment comes when the party is in power on its own only in two states – Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan – and is struggling to reclaim its turf in others.
The immediate task for Kharge would be to deliver the Congress a fighting chance in Himachal Pradesh which goes to elections in days from now on November 12.
Soon after, the new Congress chief would need to put the party’s house in order in election-bound Gujarat where an aggressive incumbent BJP will go all out to hold power and new entrant AAP appears set to present a serious challenge, eroding the advantage the Congress could have traditionally enjoyed in a direct fight with the saffron party.
Next year, the Congress would need to be ready for nine elections that are due including in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and in Kharge’s home state of Karnataka where he was an MLA for nine terms – over 37 years – and held almost all positions in the party and government, though he was never the chief minister of the state.
With these initial electoral challenges, the ultimate acid test for Kharge would be to restore Congress primacy in the opposition space ahead of the 2024 general elections when Prime Minister Narendra Modi would seek a third term.
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, with the organisation reduced to a shadow of its former formidable self when it ruled over the majority of the states and the country.
He will also have to deftly address the “old versus new” challenge within the party as it has pledged to give 50 percent of posts to the young generation of leaders who have been seeking a greater share in the running of party affairs.
His future decisions will also come under close scrutiny, especially when some within the party, as well as outside, have claimed that he has the “blessings” of the Gandhis, suggesting that he will be a proxy.
The BJP, which maintained that Kharge’s election was an internal matter of the Congress, wondered if he will be made a scapegoat if his party performs poorly in the upcoming assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
Admitting the challenges ahead, the new Congress chief said soon after assuming charge, “I know it is a difficult phase and everyone knows the manner in which efforts are being made to change the democracy established by the Congress in the country.”
Realising the immediate electoral challenges, Kharge also said in the coming Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat elections, everyone in the party would have to put in all their strength and united efforts to help emerge victorious as the people of these states want a change.
“We will have to strongly perform in these states and we will need everyone’s strength and energy to succeed in them together,” he said.
