SHOW OF HANDS

After a hotly contested election with a predictable outcome, Mallikarjun Kharge faces the difficult task of engineering a Congress resurgence

- SONI MISHRA

As the Bharat Jodo Yatra traversed Karnataka, veteran Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge found himself in a tricky situation. As the senior-most leader in the state, Kharge was expected to walk with Congress president Sonia Gandhi as she briefly joined the padyatra led by her son Rahul Gandhi. But then, Kharge was also a candidate in the party’s much-awaited presidential election, and his participation would raise questions about the Gandhi family’s poll neutrality.

As the election drew close, though, Kharge chose to not just walk with Rahul, but also take part in a public rally in Bellary to mark 1,000 kilometres of the yatra. The sight of Kharge walking with Rahul was telling—both in terms of the poll process and what lies ahead for the new Congress president. It depicted Kharge in sync with Rahul, and gave a glimpse of the role of the new party chief as regards Rahul, whose image as the face of the party in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls is being burnished by the yatra.

The presidential election was the first to be held in the Congress since 2000. The party wanted it to be seen as depicting internal democracy, blunting allegations that the Gandhis wielded dynastic control over the organisation. Every step in the poll process felt new. Directives had to be issued by the party’s central election authority (CEA) about according the two candidates—the “status quoist” Kharge and the “anti-establishmentarian” Shashi Tharoor—the same kind of reception when they visited the states to campaign. But it was only to be expected that there would be a favourite who would get special treatment. In this case, it was Kharge.