Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha: Former Railways Minister Mallikarjuna Kharge

Mallikarjuna Kharge

New Delhi: Former Union Minister Mallikarjuna Kharge will be the leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha. The nomination of Kharge, a Dalit leader and a second term member from Gulbarga, was made by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who has brushed aside demands that either she or her son Rahul take over as leader of the party in the Lok Sabha, who could be recognised as the Leader of the Opposition.

It is the new Speaker’s call to recognise the Congress as main opposition group so that its leader can get the status of Leader of the Opposition as the party does not have 55 MPs, ten per cent of the total strength, to earn the status.
“Congress President Sonia Gandhi has nominated Mallikarjun Kharge, as the Leader of the party in Lok Sabha,” party General Secretary in charge of Organisation Janardan Dwivedi announced in the evening.

The nomination of a Gandhi-Nehru family loyalist brings to an end the intense speculation going on for over a fortnight about who will hold this crucial position at a time when the party is smarting under it worst-ever defeat.

Kharge, a low-profile leader, was Railway Minister in UPA II and has been elected from Gulbarga for a second time in the recent elections. He was elected to the Karnataka Assembly 9 times and had functioned as the Leader of the Opposition there.

“We will not function as opposition for opposition sake. It (our functioning) will be issue based in the larger interest of the country and society,” Kharge told PTI in his reaction to the new role assigned by his party before leaving for New Delhi.

The Congress as the Opposition party would, at the same time, discharge its responsibility in highlighting the “mistakes” of the Government, Kharge, a veteran Congress leader who has never tasted defeat in his more than 45 years of political life, said.

Thanking Congress President Sonia Gandhi for reposing faith in him, he said, ” I will do my utmost to measure upto the expectations of party president.”I will sincerely and honestly try to discharge the responsibility in the interest of the country. Whatever job has been entrusted to me by my party president, I will try to come upto her expectations,” he said.

Source:Ibn live.