Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi said that she had been immensely satisfied that the party workers and leaders elected the new president according to their wisdom. She said Kharge is an experienced Congress man and attached to grassroots workers. He has become the AICC president from an ordinary party man, and it has happened because of his hard work.
New Delhi: Former president of the All-Congress Committee Sonia Gandhi formally passed the baton of the party leadership to veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge at a small function at the AICC headquarters on Wednesday. Before Kharge took oath as the new party president, chairman of the party’s Central Election Authority Madhusudan Mistry had handed over the certificate of election to the post to Kharge.
The longest-serving party president from 1998 to 2017 and as interim chief from 2019 to 2022 Sonia Gandhi expressed confidence that the party would be strengthened under Kharge. Rahul Gandhi became the party president in 2017-2020. She said she was relieved at relinquishing the mantle of party presidency after shouldering the responsibility for years.
That the party workers and leaders elected the new president on the grounds of their wisdom was the biggest satisfaction for her, the former AICC president said, adding that Kharge is an experienced Congress man and attached to grassroots workers. He has become the AICC president from an ordinary party worker, and it has happened because of his hard work, she said.
She said, “I have full faith that the party will get inspiration and message from him and the party will be constantly strengthened under his leadership.”
Before taking over as the party chief, Kharge visited Rajghat and paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi, besides he went to the memorials of former prime minister Jawharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi and former deputy prime minister Jagjivan Ram to pay tributes to those leaders.
The first non-Gandhi to head the party in 24 years, Kharge defeated Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor in an organisational election on October 19. At the time of handing over the certificate to Kharge, Mistry said that the other parties would learn a lesson from the Congress and conduct polls for the party presidency by secret ballot.