Mallikarjun Kharge, the newly elected president of the Indian National Congress, will take charge of the post at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in Delhi today (26 October). Kharge will be the first non-Gandhi to take over the office after 24 years.
During the oath ceremony, all Congress Working Committee members, MPs, Pradesh Congress Committee presidents, CLP leaders, former chief ministers, state presidents, and other AICC office bearers are likely to be present.
Party’s General Secretary organisation KC Venugopal has sent invitations to the above stakeholders.
Kharge beat his opponent Thiruvanthpuram MP Shashi Tharoor by a huge margin in Congress Presidential polls, held on 17 October. Kharge got 7,897 votes in the presidential contest while his opponent Tharoor received 1,072 votes.
Kharge is the second Dalit president of Congress in five decades after Jagjivan Ram became Congress chief in 1970. The former union minister of Railways was born on 21 July, 1942 in Bidar district of Karnataka and studied in a Marathi medium government school.
Soon after his poll victory, Kharge said that the party has presented an “example of strengthening the country’s democracy by conducting organisational elections” at a time when “democracy is in danger” in the country.
He said Congress has “continuously strengthened democracy” in the 75-year history of the country and protected the Constitution.
“Now when democracy is in danger and Constitution is being attacked, and every institution is being broken, Congress has presented an example of strengthening the country’s democracy by conducting organisational elections at the national level. I thank everyone connected with the election,” he said.
