Mallikarjun Kharge | |
---|---|
President of the Indian National Congress | |
Assumed office 26 October 2022 | |
Preceded by | Sonia Gandhi (interim) |
Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha | |
Assumed office 16 February 2021 | |
Vice President | |
Deputy |
|
Preceded by | Ghulam Nabi Azad |
Leader of the Indian National Congress,Lok Sabha | |
In office 4 June 2014 –23 May 2019 | |
Prime Minister | Narendra Modi |
Preceded by | Sushilkumar Shinde |
Succeeded by | Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury |
Chairperson of Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance | |
Assumed office 13 January 2024 | |
Preceded by | Position Established |
Minister of Railways | |
In office 17 June 2013 –26 May 2014 | |
Prime Minister | Manmohan Singh |
Preceded by | C. P. Joshi |
Succeeded by | D. V. Sadananda Gowda |
Minister of Labour and Employment | |
In office 29 May 2009 –16 June 2013 | |
Prime Minister | Manmohan Singh |
Preceded by | Oscar Fernandes |
Succeeded by | Sis Ram Ola |
Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly | |
In office 19 December 1996 –7 July 1999 | |
Preceded by | B. S. Yediyurappa |
Succeeded by | Jagadish Shettar |
Preceded by | N. Dharam Singh |
Succeeded by | Siddaramaiah |
Member of Parliament,Rajya Sabha | |
Assumed office 12 June 2020 | |
Preceded by | Rajeev Gowda |
Constituency | Karnataka |
General Secretary of AICC and Incharge for Maharashtra | |
In office 22 June 2018 –11 September 2020 | |
Preceded by | Position Created |
Succeeded by | H. K. Patil |
Member of Parliament,Lok Sabha | |
In office 31 May 2009 –23 May 2019 | |
Preceded by | Iqbal Ahmed Saradgi |
Succeeded by | Umesh. G. Jadhav |
Constituency | Gulbarga |
President of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee | |
In office 2005–2008 | |
Preceded by | Janardhana Poojary |
Succeeded by | R. V. Deshpande |
Member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly,Karnataka | |
In office 1972–2008 | |
Preceded by | N. Yenkappa |
Succeeded by | Baburao Chinchansur |
Constituency | Gurmitkal |
In office 2008–2009 | |
Preceded by | Vishwanath Patil Hebbal |
Succeeded by | Valmiki Naik |
Constituency | Chittapur |
Minister of Home Affairs,Government of Karnataka | |
In office 1999–2004 | |
Chief Minister | S. M. Krishna |
Minister of Rural Development,Government of Karnataka | |
In office 1978–1980 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Warwatti,Hyderabad State,British India (now Karnataka,India) | 21 July 1942
Political party | Indian National Congress |
Spouse | Radhabai Kharge (m. 1968) |
Children | 5 |
Parents |
|
Education | B A, L L B |
Alma mater | Government College, Gulbarga University, Gulbarga |
Source: sansad.in |
Mapanna Mallikarjun Kharge (born 21 July 1942) is an Indian lawyer and politician serving as the President of the Indian National Congress since 2022, [1] and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha since 2021. He has been a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from Karnataka since 2020.
He was the chairperson of Public Accounts Committee in 16th Lok Sabha from 2016 to 2019. During the UPA 2 government, he served as the Minister of Railways from 2013 to 2014 and Minister of Labour and Employment from 2009 to 2013 in the Union Cabinet. Kharge was a Member of Parliament for Gulbarga, Karnataka from 2009 to 2019. He was also general secretary of All India Congress Committee and incharge for Maharashtra from 2018 to 2020.
He is a senior Karnataka politician and was the Leader of opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from 1996 to 1999. He was the President of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee from 2005 to 2008. He was a member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from Gurmitkal Assembly constituency from 1972 to 2008 and from Chittapur Assembly constituency from 2008 to 2009 and Ministry of home affairs, Government of Karnataka from 1999 to 2004 and Rural development from 1978 to 1980. He defeated Shashi Tharoor in the 2022 Indian National Congress presidential election.
He is known for his record of defeating all his opposition candidates in his lifetime career except one. [2]
Mallikarjun Kharge was born in the Varawatti, Bhalki Taluk, Bidar district, Karnataka in a Dalit family.
In 1948, Kharge lost his mother and sister in a fire set off by the Razakars or the private militia of the Nizam of Hyderabad, while he himself had a narrow escape at the age of 7. [3] [4] He finished his schooling from Nutan Vidyalaya in Gulbarga and went on to obtain a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Government College, Gulbarga and his law degree from the Seth Shankarlal Lahoti Law College in Gulbarga. [5] He started his legal practice as a junior in Justice Shivaraj Patil's office and fought cases for labour unions early in his legal career. [6]
Kharge started his political career as a student union leader while in the Government College, Gulbarga when he was elected as the General Secretary of the students' body. In 1969, he became the legal advisor to the MSK Mills Employees' Union. He was also an influential labour union leader of Samyukta Majdoor Sangha and led many agitations fighting for the rights of labourers. [7] In 1969, he joined the Indian National Congress and became President of the Kalaburagi Town Congress Committee. [8]
He first contested the Karnataka State Assembly elections in 1972 and won from Gurmitkal constituency. In 1973, he was appointed the Chairman of the Octroi Abolition Committee which went into the question of revitalising the economy of the municipal and civic bodies in the state of Karnataka. Based on its report, the then Devaraj Urs government abolished the levy of octroi at multiple points. [9] In 1974, he was appointed the Chairman of state-owned Leather Development Corporation and worked to improve the living conditions of thousands of cobblers who were indulging in the leather tanning industry. Work sheds cum residences were built across the state for their benefit during this time. In 1976, he was appointed the Minister of State for Primary Education, during which time, over 16,000 backlog vacancies of SC/STs teachers were filled up by recruiting them directly into the service. Grants under grant-in-aid code were given to schools run by SC/ST managements for the first time. [10]
In 1978, he was elected for the second time as MLA from Gurmitkal constituency and was appointed Minister of State for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj in the Devaraj Urs ministry. In 1980, he became the Minister for Revenue in the Gundu Rao Cabinet. During this time, the focus was on effective land reforms, resulting in giving occupancy rights to millions of land-less tillers and labourers. More than 400 land tribunals were constituted to expedite the transfer of land rights to the tillers. [11] In 1983, he was elected for the third time to the Karnataka Assembly from Gurmitkal. In 1985, he was elected for the fourth time to the Karnataka Assembly from Gurmitkal and was appointed the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly.
In 1989, he was elected for the fifth time to the Karnataka Assembly from Gurmitkal. In 1990, he joined Bangarappa's Cabinet as the Minister for Revenue, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, portfolios he had held earlier and brought about significant change. Restarting the Land Reforms process that had stopped in the interim, resulted in hundreds of thousands of acres of land being registered in the name of the landless tillers. [12]
Between 1992 and 1994, he was the Minister for Co-operation, Medium and Large Industries in the Veerappa Moily Cabinet. In 1994, he was elected for the sixth time to the Karnataka Assembly from Gurmitkal and became the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. In 1999, he was elected for the seventh time to the Karnataka Assembly and was a front-runner to the post of Chief Minister of Karnataka. He became Minister for Home in the S. M. Krishna Cabinet during a particularly trying time for Karnataka especially the Rajkumar kidnap by the notorious poacher Veerappan and the Cauvery Riots. In 2004, he was elected for the eighth consecutive time to the Karnataka Assembly and was once again considered a front-runner to the post of the Chief Minister of Karnataka. He became the Minister for Transport and Water Resources in the Dharam Singh-led coalition government.
In 2005, he was appointed the President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. In the Panchayat elections held soon after, Congress won the largest number of seats compared to BJP and JD(S) indicating a revival of the Congress fortunes in the rural areas of Karnataka. [13] In 2008, he was elected for the record ninth consecutive time to the Assembly from Chitapur. Though the Congress party put up a better show when compared to the 2004 elections, the Congress lost the elections with a majority of the senior leaders losing. He was appointed the Leader of the Opposition for the second time in 2008.
In 2009, Kharge contested the general elections from Gulbarga Parliamentary Constituency and won his tenth consecutive election. [14]
In the 2014 general elections, Kharge contested and won from the Gulbarga parliamentary seat, beating Revunaik Belamagih from the BJP with a margin of 74,737 votes. [15] In June, he was appointed the Leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha. [16]
In the 2019 general elections, Kharge contested from the same parliamentary seat, however this time he lost to Umesh G. Jadhav from the BJP with a margin of 95,452 votes. [15]
On 12 June 2020 Kharge was elected (unopposed) to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka, at the age of 78 years. [17] On 12 February 2021, Kharge was appointed Leader of Opposition, Rajya Sabha. [18]
Kharge notably has been appointed as an observer by the INC for multiple states in the past, including Assam in 2014, Punjab in 2021, and Rajasthan in 2022. [19] He has been criticized for his alleged inability to resolve internal party issues in these three states and therefore causing the loss in Assam and Punjab, and public embarrassment in Rajasthan. [19]
On 1 October 2022, he filed nominations to contest the INC party presidential polls and won with 7897 votes. [20] He was the first INC President not from the Gandhi family in 24 years. [21]
Kharge's name was proposed as the prime ministerial candidate of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance for the 2024 general election. The proposal was made by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and was supported by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. [22] However, other senior leaders of the alliance such a Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Yadav disapproved the proposal. [23]
Year | Election | Party | Constituency Name | Result | Votes gained | Vote share% | Margin | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1972 | Mysore Legislative Assembly | INC | Gurmitkal | Won | 16,796 | 62.68%% | 9,440 | [24] | |
1978 | Karnataka Legislative Assembly | Won | 30,380 | 64.99% | 16,599 | [24] | |||
1983 | Karnataka Legislative Assembly | Won | 30,933 | 67.65% | 16,143 | [24] | |||
1985 | Karnataka Legislative Assembly | Won | 32,669 | 66% | 17,673 | [24] | |||
1989 | Karnataka Legislative Assembly | Won | 39,608 | 64.23% | 19,969 | [24] | |||
1994 | Karnataka Legislative Assembly | Won | 42,588 | 58.76% | 19,336 | [24] | |||
1999 | Karnataka Legislative Assembly | Won | 54,569 | 76.76% | 47,124 | [24] | |||
2004 | Karnataka Legislative Assembly | Won | 37,006 | 45.99% | 18,547 | [24] | |||
2008 | Karnataka Legislative Assembly | Won | 49,837 | 52.13% | 17,442 | [25] | |||
2009 | 15th Lok Sabha | Gulbarga | Won | 3,45,241 | 45.46% | 13,404 | [26] | ||
2014 | 16th Lok Sabha | Won | 5,07,193 | 50.83% | 74,733 | [26] | |||
2019 | 17th Lok Sabha | Lost | 5,24,740 | 44.08% | 95,452 | [26] | |||
Year | Description |
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1972–1978 | Elected to 5th Mysore Assembly (1st Term)
|
1978–1983 | Elected to 6th Karnataka Assembly (2nd Term)
|
1983–1985 | Elected to 7th Karnataka Assembly (3rd Term)
|
1985–1989 | Elected to 8th Karnataka Assembly (4th Term)
|
1989–1994 | Elected to 9th Karnataka Assembly (5th Term)
|
1994–1999 | Elected to 10th Karnataka Assembly (6th Term)
|
1999–2004 | Elected to 11th Karnataka Assembly (7th Term)
|
2004–2008 | Elected to 12th Karnataka Assembly (8th Term)
|
2008–2009 | Elected to 13th Karnataka Assembly (9th Term)
|
2009–2014 | Elected to 15th Lok Sabha (1st Term)
|
2014–2019 | Elected to 16th Lok Sabha (2nd Term)
|
2020–Present | Elected to Rajya Sabha (1st Term)
|
Kharge married Ananya Soni on 13 May 1968 and has 2 daughters and 3 sons. [5] [27] Kharge is a polyglot and can speak English, Hindi, Urdu, Kannada, Telugu and Marathi. [8] His son Priyank Kharge is an MLA from the Chittapur assembly constituency. [3]
He is the Founder-Chairman of Siddharth Vihar Trust that has built the Buddha Vihar in Gulbarga, India. [28] He is also a patron of the Chowdiah Memorial Hall, a concert and theater venue in Bangalore. He helped the centre get over its debts and aided the centre's plans for renovation. [29]
Kalaburagi, formerly known as Gulbarga, is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kalaburagi district and is the largest city in the region of North Karnataka (Kalyana-Karnataka). Kalaburagi is 568 km north of the state capital city of Bangalore. It was incorporated into the newly formed Mysore State through the States Reorganisation Act in 1956.
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