Destiny’s own child: The rise and rise of Mallikarjun Kharge

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, January 13

When Mallikarjun Kharge became Congress president in October 2022 he was widely described as destiny’s own child having risen to the top echelons of the grand old party without ever becoming what he always wanted to become — the chief minister of Karnataka.

Today, he has gone a step further by literally becoming the prime ministerial face of the anti-BJP INDIA bloc, which appointed him its chairman.

At 81, Kharge beat battle-hardened Nitish Kumar, Bihar chief minister and JDU chief, to the race for the top opposition post with sources indicating that Kumar had turned down an offer to be INDIA bloc convener and that the Congress could take that post too.

While Nitish plays his cards, as he always does, keeping the allies on tenterhooks (he has twice ditched the NDA), Kharge’s position in the opposition bloc stands cemented on account of his seniority, representative ability (he is a scheduled caste leader) and south Indian roots.

The move, opposition sources say, could boost the Congress chances across south India, especially Kharge’s own state Karnataka, the only state where the BJP has a significant Lok Sabha presence with 25 of 28 segments won in the 2019 general election. In Telangana, the BJP had won four of the 17 seats while it drew a blank in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

Having just won Telangana the Congress feels Kharge in the saddle would make life rough for the BJP in the south.

As for Kharge, his rise remains consistent and unexpected. Even in the Congress presidential race he entered after Sonia Gandhi’s first choice Ashok Gehlot declined to stand.

Within INDIA bloc too, Kharge emerged on top, pipping Nitish and consensus candidate Sonia Gandhi as the latter declined the top job on account of frail health.

As Kharge takes on a new role on the eve of a crucial Lok Sabha poll, a look at his past reveals his interesting trysts with destiny.

Kharge would always be remembered as a Congress president who could never be chief minister. 

Despite a commendable nine-term run as Karnataka MLA, he was never the state CM.

He lost the position first to SM Krishna and then to Siddharamaiah. 

What stood Kharge in good stead, however, was his resilience.

The veteran never let a lost opportunity of CM-ship get the better of his loyalty to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who rewarded him repeatedly and generously.

Kharge was the leader of the party in Lok Sabha in 2014 when the Congress was down to 44 MPs and then leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha in 2021. Kharge resigned as the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha after he filed his papers for party president’s election.

In his victory as Congress president also, the old Congress warhorse scripted history.

He is the second Dalit president of the Congress in 51 years, the last being Jagjivan Ram who demitted office in 1971.

Also, he became the first non-Gandhi to head the party in 24 years, after Sitaram Kesri was ousted by the Congress Working Committee in 1998.

Kharge is further the only Congressman who has become party president having previously served as leader of opposition in Karnataka assembly, leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha and leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

Starting his career in 1969 as Gulbarga city Congress chief, Kharge went on to remain MLA in Karnataka from 1972 to 2009, a record 37 years.

He never lost an election except the Lok Sabha poll from Gulbarga in 2019, after which Sonia Gandhi brought him to the Rajya Sabha.

For most part of his over half-a-century political career, Kharge has been a quintessential Karnataka leader moving to the national scene only in 2009 when he first became Gulbarga Lok Sabha MP and retained the seat in 2014.

The 81-year-old contested his first election in 1972 when Indira Gandhi gave him an assembly ticket. 

Ever since there appears to be no looking back for the humble man from Bidar’s Varavatti.