Tough road ahead for Kharge as challenges galore for Congress
New Delhi: Tough tests await newly elected Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, the party's first non-Gandhi chief in more than 24 years, as he steers the 'grand old party' through the many challenges on the road to the 2024 general elections.
The situation in which he takes over is a tough one for the Congress with the party's chances in the upcoming Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections not looking very bright, infighting simmering in states such as Rajasthan and Karnataka, and hurdles in abundance for Opposition unity in the run up to 2024.
Kharge has many things favouring him as he assumes the party's top spot after a high-octane election, defeating a worthy opponent in Shashi Tharoor. He is known to be a unifier who takes everyone along.
A Dalit from Karnataka, 80-year-old Kharge trounced his 66-year-old rival Tharoor in a historic election, the sixth in the party's 137-year-old history. He will formally take over on October 26.
His elevation to the party's top post comes when the Congress is in power in just two states on its own Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and faces a very aggressive incumbent BJP in election-bound Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat a few weeks from now.
This will be Kharge's first challenge.
Later in 2023, the Congress president will face the onerous task of leading the party in nine assembly elections, including in his home state Karnataka.
Kharge's election also comes at a time when the party is reeling under internal rumblings and high-profile exits after a series of electoral debacles that have reduced it to a shadow of its former formidable self.
He will have to fend off BJP's allegations of being a front for the Gandhis and remote-controlled by them.
Kharge also faces the challenge of a generational divide in the party and has to maintain a balance between experience and the youth going forward.
Political commentator Rasheed Kidwai said there are several challenges before Kharge as he has to coordinate with Team Rahul Gandhi, which occupies key posts and positions in the All India Congress Committee (AICC), the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and in most states.
The next challenge is constituting the CWC, in which most of the G-23 protagonists who supported him hope to get accommodated, Kidwai told.
Kharge also faces the immediate challenge of the Rajasthan political crisis as he needs to "tame a defiant Ashok Gehlot and get a role for Sachin Pilot", said Kidwai, the author of several books, including '24 Akbar Road: A Short History Of The People Behind The Fall And Rise Of The Congress'.
He also has to firm up a broad alliance for the 2024 general elections with TMC's Mamata Banerjee, DMK's MK Stalin, JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar, and TRS' K Chandrashekar Rao among others, Kidwai said.
Echoing similar views, political commentator Sanjay Kumar said there are a lot of challenges for the party, and unfortunately, Kharge's ability to lead would be tested on the parameter of electoral success of the Congress.
