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HomePolitics‘Loyalist, self-made’ — Why Congress picked Kharge as Leader of Opposition in...

‘Loyalist, self-made’ — Why Congress picked Kharge as Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha

Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge, the former 9-term MLA, has been favoured by the party high command time and again, often at the cost of other senior leaders.

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New Delhi: The Congress has made its choice to replace Ghulam Nabi Azad as the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, and it is, as was expected, Mallikarjun Kharge — the veteran party leader who was elected to the Upper House just last year.

This was a highly speculated choice as the Congress high command has been repeatedly favoring Kharge, often at the cost of ignoring other senior party members.

“He is a high command loyalist, and you can trust him to never stray from the party line. That in part explains why he is handpicked by the party leaders, time and again,” said a Congress Rajya Sabha MP, who didn’t want to be named.

In 2014, when Congress chose Kharge as its leader in the Lok Sabha, it triggered a series of shock waves among party members, many of whom, including Shashi Tharoor and Digvijaya Singh, had on record said they wished for Rahul Gandhi to take charge of that role.

But after both Sonia and Rahul expressed unwillingness to occupy that position, it was expected that either former Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath, a nine-time Lok Sabha MP, or former Karnataka CM Veerappa Moily would be the natural choices for the role. But the party high command sprung a surprise on everyone when they chose Kharge.

“At that point, we had gotten 9 seats from Karnataka in the Lok Sabha polls, when our overall tally in the House was just 44. So the appointment came as somewhat of a reward,” said a Congress leader.

But the same rationale wouldn’t hold true today.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress won just one seat from Karnataka — with even Kharge breaking his stellar electoral record by losing the Gulbarga seat to his BJP opponent Umesh Jadhav.

Then, in June 2020, Kharge was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha, following which rumors have been rife that he will eventually take over as the leader in the House.


Also read: Why Gandhi family loyalists in Congress are turning against Rahul


String of election victories, party loyalist

Azad delivered a long, emotional farewell speech in the Rajya Sabha earlier this week, almost conveying a sense of certainty that even if he is re-nominated to the House, he won’t be chosen as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) again. 

Kharge wasn’t just chosen over Azad, but also over Anand Sharma, the deputy leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

“Sharma is also a senior leader, but his term was anyway getting over later this year,” the above-quoted Congress leader said.

Tenures coming to an end isn’t the only thing Azad and Sharma have in common. Both leaders have been vocal members of the ‘G23’— the 23 leaders of the Congress who wrote to party president Sonia Gandhi last year demanding a slew of changes, including internal elections.

As opposed to this, Kharge has maintained complete loyalty to the party high command and the Gandhi family.

Besides this, party leaders said Kharge is also a “self-made” leader. “His credentials are undisputable,” the leader added.

Kharge has won 11 consecutive elections in his life — 9 times to the Karnataka Assembly from the Gurmitkal constituency from 1972 to 2008, and twice to the Lok Sabha polls from Gulbarga in 2009 and 2014. The 2019 Lok Sabha polls were the first polls he had lost in a span of several decades.

Moreover, Kharge has also served as the leader of opposition in the Karnataka Assembly from 1996-1999, and as the president of Karnataka Congress from 2005-2008. Kharge has also held two ministerial portfolios in the UPA-2 government — first as the labour minister and then briefly as the railways minister.

“He may not have played a very prominent role at the Centre, but you can see that he is a self-made leader who has bit his teeth in ground-level politics. Plus, he has the experience of being the party’s voice as the leader of the party in Lok Sabha for 5 years,”  the party leader said.

But Kharge’s execution of his responsibilities as the leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha is debatable.

“He is a veteran leader who commands respect, but he wouldn’t always have the kind of gravitas needed to bring the opposition together on important issues. More often than not, he would walk out of the House along with the rest of the party MPs whenever contentious issues were discussed,” a Congress Lok Sabha MP said.

“To be fair, he wasn’t the leader of the opposition — but the leader of Congress in Lok Sabha,” the MP added.

In 2014, as no opposition party got the required 10 per cent of all the seats, the leader of the opposition post remained vacant.

A second Congress leader, however, said that Kharge would often know how to “elevate the mood” of the House, especially during strenuous times.

This one time, in May 2016, Kharge evoked laughter from MPs across party lines when soon after a heated debate on the AgustaWestland controversy, an opposition member rose to demand more hours before amendments to Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill, 2015, were passed.

Abhi humne 100 demands pass kiya without discussion. Aap sab taali bajatey rahe, aur hum dekhte rahe (Just now, we passed over 100 demands without discussion. You all (treasury benches) kept on clapping and we kept on watching),” Kharge had said, supporting the member’s demand, and throwing everyone into fits of laughter, including PM Modi. 

Kharge has in the past been a top-runner to be the Karnataka CM twice — once in 1999 and then in 2004, but fell short both times as S.M. Krishna and Dharam Singh were chosen to play the roles in both years, respectively.

Then in 2018, he was appointed as the party’s general secretary in-charge of Maharashtra, a role he was relieved of after the organisational reshuffle in September 2020.


Also read: Kharge says Congress leaders remark over leadership ‘weakens’ party from within


‘Don’t say Dalit again and again… I am a Congressman’

Besides the string of electoral victories, party leaders say Kharge’s Dalit identity is also of import.

“After Jagjivan Ram ji’s demise, there has been a real vacuum in the party in terms of having a prominent Dalit face,” said a second Congress Rajya Sabha MP.

Kharge, however, has in the past expressed strong opposition to constantly being referred to as a ‘Dalit leader’.

Ahead of the 2018 Karnataka assembly polls, Kharge said if he is considered for the CM post, it should be due to his experience, and not his identity.

“I may be a Dalit, but I am in Congress from 1972 — beginning of my political career… I have the record of not losing a single election. I have worked as a minister under several CMs and was also the KPCC chief.”

“Though this is the case, I do not know why somebody brands me as a CM contender under the Dalit category. If at all the high command considers my name for the CM’s post, let it give me the post considering my experience,” Kharge had said.

This was Kharge’s response to Congress leader and former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah’s statement that he would have no problem if the party decides to make a Dalit, the CM.

Then, in 2019, when the Congress said it expects to win the state bypolls and form the government, Kharge was again asked about his prospects as the next potential ‘Dalit CM.’

“Why do you keep saying Dalit again and again? Don’t say that. I’m a Congressman… You talk as if there’s a reserved seat (for a Dalit to become the CM),” Kharge had said.


Also read: Mallikarjun Kharge likely to replace Ghulam Nabi Azad as leader of Opposition in RS


 

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5 COMMENTS

  1. Now in both the houses the leaders have identical voice quality. Both of them must be a step below the intellectual level of the leader. The command on both English and Hindi has to be again a step below the boss.
    Obviously the competition fell short on both the intellect and articulation despite being more photogenic ,which could be a minus point.

  2. Loyalist is a euphemism for family sycophant, and that’s all one needs to scale ranks in Congress. One might even become the President of India if bootlicking is done from an early age.

  3. “… I have the record of not losing a single election. I have worked as a minister under several CMs and was also the KPCC chief.” Well, that aged really well post 2019 😂😂

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