The religious assign a task to future within the rise and fall of leaders. Others say it’s a mixture of varied components — timing, circumstances, diplomacy and craft – aside from, in fact, machinations and intrigue. Who else would comprehend it higher than Mallikarjun Kharge, the person who misplaced out within the race for Karnataka Chief Ministership thrice and that is now all set to helm the Congress.
The stab of these misplaced photographs at being CM – in 1999, 2004 and 2013 – are recognized to nonetheless harm the 80-year-old veteran who, regardless of being a staunch loyalist of the Gandhi household, misplaced out, respectively, to S M Krishna, his shut pal Dharam Singh and Siddaramaiah.
However the former pupil chief, ex-president of the Gulbarga Metropolis Congress and nine-time MLA, by no means misplaced hope, by no means rebelling. One of the crucial outstanding Dalit faces of the Congress, belonging to a state the place the social gathering continues to have some maintain, he needed to be content material with the occasional reward like chief of the social gathering within the Lok Sabha and now Rajya Sabha.
However now, the ultimate prize is ready to fall into Kharge’s lap, with the Gandhi household’s blessing seen to be on his facet for the put up of nationwide president — though the end result can be formally recognized solely on October 19 since there’s a contest between him and Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor.
If he wins, Kharge, who’s fluent in Hindi, will change into the sixth chief from the South to change into the Congress president post- Independence. The others being B Pattabhi Sitaramayya, N Sanjiva Reddy, Ok Kamaraj, S Nijalingappa and P V Narasimha Rao. Extra importantly, he would be the first particular person exterior the Gandhi household to helm the social gathering in two-and-a-half many years.
Kharge brings to the put up a protracted stint in state politics from the time he was appointed president of the town Congress of his hometown Gulbarga in 1969. He entered electoral politics in 1972 when he contested within the Meeting elections for the primary time. He received and repeated the feat eight occasions. He grew to become a minister for the primary time in 1976 within the Devaraj Urs authorities.
He was a minister in all Congress governments after that whereas he was an MLA — the Gundu Rao Ministry in 1980, the S Bangarappa Cupboard in 1990 and the M Veerappa Moily authorities from 1992 to 1994. He was Chief of the Opposition in 1996-99 and 2008-09, and president of the state Congress from 2005-08, earlier than he moved to nationwide politics in 2009, when he entered the Lok Sabha for the primary time.
The veteran was then drafted into the Manmohan Singh Cupboard, first as Labour Minister after which given the portfolio of Railways and Social Justice and Empowerment.
Kharge’s greatest alternative got here in 2014 when the Congress suffered a humiliating defeat and was decreased to only 44 members within the Lok Sabha. Kharge, who received from Gulbarga for the second time, was made chief of the Congress within the Lok Sabha. Invoking the Mahabharata, Kharge famously mentioned: “We could also be 44 within the Lok Sabha, however the Pandavas won’t ever be intimidated by 100 Kauravas.” He then led a spirited battle for the social gathering within the Lok Sabha for 5 years.
In 2019, when for the primary time in his electoral profession, Kharge tasted defeat, the social gathering rewarded the loyal veteran by bringing him to the Rajya Sabha. And in an acknowledgment of his expertise, made him the Chief of the Opposition within the Higher Home in February 2021.
Kharge, who follows Buddhism, ticks different packing containers too for the Congress president put up: he’s mild and soft-spoken, sober by temperament and nature, and has by no means landed in any political spot or controversy. Born right into a poor household at Warwatti in Gulbarga district, he did BA, studied Legislation and practised for some time earlier than plunging into politics and becoming a member of the Congress in 1969.
That was additionally the yr that Indira Gandhi confronted one of many greatest challenges to her management of the Congress. Greater than half-a-century later, the Gandhi household, going through an identical risk, couldn’t have chosen an even bigger loyalist than Kharge to make sure there are not any parallel energy centres.