Mallikarjun Kharge: Some lesser known facts about Congress' 98th president

Interim president Sonia Gandhi met Kharge today and congratulated him for winning the elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also extended his wishes to Kharge

Indian National Congress on Wednesday elected Mallikarjun Kharge as its 98th president. Kharge defeated fellow senior MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor, in the PCC elections held on October 17. The party has chosen a non-Gandhi leader after over two decades.

Out of the total 9,385 votes, Kharge received 7,897 votes, while Tharoor received 1,072 votes. As many as 416 votes were invalid. Interim president Sonia Gandhi met Kharge after the result and congratulated him for winning the elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also extended his wishes to Kharge.

Here are some of the interesting facts about the new Congress president:

1. Kharge is the second Dalit Congress president in five decades since Jagjivan Ram became the party chief in 1970.

2. He was born on July 21, 1942, in the Bidar district of Karnataka and studied in a Marathi medium government school. 

3. Kharge is a polyglot, fluent in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi, Kannada and English. 

4. The former union minister of Railways is a practising Buddhist and is a self-declared ardent follower of Bhim Rao Ambedkar.

5. The former Rajya Sabha MP lost his mother in communal violence at seven. The loss deeply impacted him, which later shaped his adult ideology as a secularist.

6. He joined the grand-old party in 1969 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was expelled from the party. At 27, he became the president of the Kalaburagi Town Congress Committee.

7. Kharge was a state-level kabaddi and hockey player. He also played football and cricket. Till a few years ago, he was often seen at different stadiums catching up on the latest match. 

8. Kharge is an Arts graduate from Government College, Kalaburagi. He also holds a law degree from Seth Shankarlal Lahoti Law College. He practised under Shivaraj Patil as a labour law expert, who later became a Supreme Court judge.

9. He is also known as ‘Solilada Sardara’, which translates to an undefeated chieftain. He was accorded this title after the election to the Karnataka assembly nine times in a row between 1972 and 2008. The former MP also won from the Kalaburagi Lok Sabha constituency in 2009 and 2014.

10. Kharge and his wife Radhabhai have three sons and two daughters -- Rahul, Priyank, Milind, Jayashree, and Priyadarshini. Apart from Priyank, a Congress MLA, his other kids are not involved in politics.

11. According to a report in Livemint, Kharge is an extremely witty person in a private space. His sarcasm and sense of humour have been said to leave anyone in splits. However, he is also a disciplinarian who does not like to waste food, electricity, and water. 

12. He does not follow any specific exercise regime except physiotherapy post-knee surgery in 2017. However, at 80, the 98th Congress president is more agile than most of his compatriots.