The real test for Kharge

Having made history twice in his political career, the veteran leader faces his most formidable challenge yet as he navigates the complexities of the forthcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections

Mapanna Mallikarjun Kharge is possibly the second leader in the history of independent India who has been the leader of the Opposition in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha and the president of a national party (L K Advani was the other). This testifies to the breadth of political experience of the 81-year-old.

This year, he made history for another reason. He became the first and only leader of Opposition to miss the Red Fort address of a Prime Minister, ostensibly for health reasons, something the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) refused to believe. During his reply to the vote of confidence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi taunted the Congress for the lack of respect shown to the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Choudhury, by his party. Earlier, he had similarly attacked the Congress leadership/Gandhi family for disrespect to Mr Kharge. Speaking at an election rally in Belagavi, Mr Modi said he respected the veteran leader but was dismayed that the Congress did not: “Mallikarjun Kharge has served the public in whatever way possible ... I was disheartened to see how the most senior leader, the president of the Congress, has been disrespected by them ... The world knows who has the remote control.” For reasons best known to the Congress, it refrained from retorting that the BJP would rather forget Atal Bihari Vajpayee than remember him, although there is ample evidence for this, both in foreign and domestic policy.

But this much is true: That in running the party, Mr Kharge has not found it easy to show he’s his own man. Despite being president for nearly 10 months, the Congress still does not have a Working Committee in place, although the party plenary at Raipur authorised Mr Kharge to “nominate” a working committee. K C Venugopal continues to be the party’s general secretary (organisation) — clearly given his proximity to the Gandhi family —Mr Kharge believes in the dictum that if it isn’t broken, there is no need to fix it. Chatter in the party suggests Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may be invited to join the working committee. This could be a way of acknowledging her contribution in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly election, after which Congress formed the government.

How much of a role he’s had in resolving differences between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and the aspiring chief minister, Sachin Pilot, is not known, though a lot of the credit is given to Mr Venugopal. The same goes for the rivalry between Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and his minister, T S Singh Deo. The bottom line is, in both states, the factions have stopped sparring in public.

Mr Kharge’s acceptability within the party lies in his career in politics. He’s had a good record of winning elections. Barring the Lok Sabha election in 2019, when he lost his home borough, Karnataka’s Gulbarga, to the BJP, he has never lost. He won from the Gurmitkal Assembly constituency in Karnataka nine times in a row before he plunged into the Lok Sabha poll arena in 2009. He won from Gulbarga in 2014, when the tide was against the Congress.

Mr Kharge began life as a trade-union lawyer and knows what it is to struggle. What he really wanted was to become chief minister — from 1972, when he won from the Gurmitkal Assembly constituency and became a minister in the Devaraj Urs government in 1976. He was a minister in the Gundu Rao ministry in 1980, the S Bangarappa Cabinet in 1990, and in the M Veerappa Moily government from 1992 to 1994. His role changed in 1994, when he became the Opposition leader in the Assembly. In 1999, he was among the contenders for chief minister but was pipped to the post by S M Krishna. In 2004, it was Dharam Singh who bested him. In 2013, the BJP government in Karnataka fell but again Mr Kharge lost the chance. Siddaramaiah got the top job.

From 2014 to 2019, Mr Kharge fought insult and humiliation and, worse, on behalf of the Congress. There are several committees on which the presence of the leader of the Opposition is mandatory — to select the chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation and the central vigilance commissioner, to name just two. He boycotted the meetings to select the Lokpal because he was invited to participate as a “special invitee” with no powers, since he was not recognised as leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

The less charitable in the party say he owes his present appointment to the grace of Sonia Gandhi — the family wanted someone who wouldn’t talk back and would not exert himself too much — basically an unquestioning, unthreatening loyalist. His son Priyank is a minister in the Karnataka government, so the lineage is assured. But Mr Kharge is no Manmohan Singh. The upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections — the choice of candidates, the campaign strategies and the negotiations with other Opposition parties — represent the real test for Mallikarjun Kharge.