Finance
Mallikarjun Kharge was elected Congress president on Wednesday, defeating the party’s Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor in a hard-fought leadership election, but the party was ecstatic. Kharge receives 7,897 votes (84.14%), while Shashi Tharoor receives 1,072 votes (11.42%).
Following the results, when senior leader Rahul Gandhi was asked as to what his role would now be in the Congress party, he said, “…my role, of course I cannot comment on Congress president’s role… that is for Mr Kharge to comment on. I am very clear as far as my role is concerned. The Congress president will decide my role and how I am to be deployed”.
Mallikarjun Kharge, the first non-Gandhi to hold the Congress presidency in two and a half decades, faces a slew of challenges. While maintaining the status quo is simple, Kharge’s biggest challenge will be to transform the party in order to reconnect with the people and win elections again. Furthermore, the new Congress president faces the difficult task of asserting his independence so that he is not seen as a proxy for the Gandhis.
Source:IE
