Newly elected Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will take charge at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in Delhi on Wednesday. On 19 October, Kharge became the first non-Gandhi Congress president in 24 years after defeating Shashi Tharoor by a wide margin in the race for the party’s top post.
Here’s the latest on how Kharge officially took over as party president:
As Mallikarjun Kharge takes over the top post of Congress today, all Congress Working Committee (CWC) members, MPs, Pradesh Congress Committee presidents, CLP leaders, former CMs, former state presidents and other AICC officials have been invited to Inform about tom agency ANI. Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal has sent an invitation to all the leaders.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said on Tuesday that he will also be presented at the event. “Mallikarjun Kharge will take charge as the National President of the Congress Party. I too was asked to attend the occasion. So I am going to Delhi,” he said. Congress Central Election Officer Madhusudan Mistry announced Kharge’s name after the counting of votes and said that out of the total 9,385 votes polled in the Congress presidential poll, Kharge got 7,897 votes and Tharoor got 1,072 votes. The rest of the 416 votes were declared invalid.
In his first speech after being elected Congress president, Kharge thanked outgoing party chief Sonia Gandhi on behalf of all party workers. He said she had “sacrificed many years of her life for the big old party”. Kharge also congratulated his rival Shashi Tharoor. “I also want to congratulate my partner Shashi Tharoor. I met him and discussed how to take the party forward,” he said.