Mallikarjun Kharge Is Chief - Congress Sticks To What It Knows

The Congress today declared veteran Mallikarjun Kharge its new chief, the first non-Gandhi to lead the party in 24 years. He will take charge on October 26.

Mr Kharge, 80, widely seen to be the "Gandhi-approved" candidate in a contest against Shashi Tharoor, won 84 per cent of the votes cast on Monday.

Mr Kharge takes over from Sonia Gandhi, who agreed to temporarily lead the party when Rahul Gandhi stepped down in 2019, taking responsibility for successive general election defeats.

As is Congress tradition, Mr Kharge wanted to visit Sonia Gandhi at her 10, Janpath home. But sources say Sonia Gandhi decided that given the occasion, it should be the other way round. She drove to Mr Kharge's 10, Rajaji home with a bouquet.

Though Mr Kharge made a last-minute entry into the contest, his landslide victory was never in doubt.

He won 7,897 votes while Shashi Tharoor finished with 1,072.

Even before the results were announced, the confirmation came from Rahul Gandhi at a press conference in Andhra Pradesh.

"I can't comment on the Congress president's role, that's for Mr Kharge to comment on," Rahul Gandhi said on the new president's role while he remains the face of the party.

"The president will decide what my role is and how I am to be deployed... that you have to ask Kharge ji and Sonia ji," he said.

He also said he would "report to" Mr Kharge, like every party member.

When the results were announced, celebrations erupted at the Congress office, the kind not seen in years as the party suffered defeat after defeat.

Mr Kharge, who is close to the Gandhis, has promised reforms but few expect radical changes on his watch.

His rival Shashi Tharoor built his campaign around change but lost, as expected.

He said the elections, irrespective of the outcome, had "ultimately strengthened the party".

"I look forward to working with Congress colleagues to face the challenges ahead. I believe the revival of our party has truly begun today," Mr Tharoor said in a statement.

Soon after the counting of votes began this morning, Mr Tharoor had alleged "extremely serious irregularities" in the election process. In a sharp letter, his team asked for the votes in Uttar Pradesh to be cancelled. However, Mr Tharoor later withdrew the demand and said, "Let's move on", regretting that the letter was leaked.

The Gandhis, blamed for the party's inability to win elections, stayed out of the contest and insisted that the new Congress chief should be someone outside their family.

Since Independence, the Congress has mostly been led by a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family, who were elected unanimously. Elections were held only six times as there was more than one candidate - starting in 1939 when P Sitaramayya, backed by Mahatma Gandhi, lost to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Sonia Gandhi, source say, will continue as chairperson of the Congress parliamentary party. She used this designation in all her official correspondence even after she took over as interim chief in 2019. In this role, she will select Mr Kharge's replacement as Leader of Opposition, Rajya Sabha.