Mallikarjun Kharge to take charge as Congress president today

Newly elected Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is set to take charge of the post on Wednesday at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in Delhi.

On October 19, Kharge became the first non-Gandhi Congress president in 24 years after defeating Shashi Tharoor by a huge margin in the race to the party’s top post.

Here is the latest on Kharge officially taking charge as the party president:

1. As Mallikarjun Kharge is set to take charge of the Congress top post today, all Congress Working Committee (CWC) members, MPs, Pradesh Congress Committee presidents, CLP leaders, former CMs, former State presidents, and other AICC office bearers have been invited to the programme, reported news agency ANI. Congress general secretary KC Venugopal sent the invitation to all the leaders.

2. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Tuesday said that he would also be presented at the event. “Mallikarjun Kharge will take charge as the national president of the Congress party. I too have been asked to be present at the occasion. So, I am going to Delhi,” he said.

3. Congress’s central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry announced Kharge’s name after the counting of votes and said that of the total 9,385 votes polled in the Congress president poll, Kharge got 7,897 votes and Tharoor received 1,072 votes. The rest of the 416 votes were declared invalid.

4. In his first address after being elected the Congress president, Kharge thanked outgoing party chief Sonia Gandhi on behalf of all party workers. He had said that she “sacrificed many years of her life for the grand old party”.

5. Kharge also congratulated his opponent Shashi Tharoor. “I want to congratulate my partner Shashi Tharoor as well. I met him and discussed how to take the party forward,” he said.