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BIG STORY OCTOBER 21, 2022 | The Indian Eye 5

Congress supporters celebrate the victory of Mallikarjun Kharge in Mumbai on Wednesday (ANI) Rahul Gandhi waves to supporters during party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kurnool on Thursday (ANI)

Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhat- party members will back one of their He also hailed her leadership stating flation and unemployment, the gap
tisgarh and Rajasthan will go the polls own”. that the Congress-led coalition came between the rich and the poor is wid-
next year before the crucial battle in But Kharge congratulated Tharo- to power at the Centre twice while she ening and hatred is being spread by
the 2024 general election. or and said that they discussed meth- was party chief. the government. Rahul Gandhi has
Many senior party leaders have ods to take the party forward. Tharoor “I want to thank Sonia Gandhi undertaken the 3,570 km-long yatra
left Congress in recent months and had visited Kharge’s residence to con- on behalf of all party workers. She has to create a mass movement against
years and the Congress debacle in gratulate him on his victory. “I want to made personal sacrifices and served these problems. The entire country is
Punjab and Uttarakhand assembly congratulate my partner Shashi Tha- the party for 25 years with hard sweat connecting with his struggle. I appeal
polls earlier this year has been blamed roor as well. We were contesting the and blood. Under her leadership, we to the people of the country to join the
on the choices party leadership made election as representatives. He met formed our government at the Centre Bharat Jodo Yatra with Rahul Gandhi
in these states. me and we discussed how to take the twice. Her tenure (as party president) for the country’s welfare,” he said.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, party forward,” Kharge said. will be remembered in history,” he “We all have to work like workers
who is on Bharat Jodo Yatra, indicat- The Congress president-elect ex- said. of the party, nobody is big or small in
ed that Kharge will decide his role. pressed his gratitude to outgoing par- Kharge appealed to people to the party. We have to unitedly fight
“I can’t comment on Congress ty chief Sonia Gandhi and said that join former party president Rahul against the fascist forces that are at-
President’s role, that’s for Mr Kharge to she made “personal sacrifices” for a Gandhi in Bharat Jodo Yatra. “The tacking the democratic institutions
comment on. The President will decide number of years to serve the party. biggest problem in the country is in- under the garb of communalism,”
what my role is...and where I will be de- Kharge added.
ployed ask Khargeji, Soniaji,” he said. But former union minister Ash-
Kharge, a loyalist of the Neh- wani Kumar on Wednesday took a
ru-Gandhi family, has said he will swipe at the Congress party after the
implement the party’s Udaipur Dec- party’s presidential poll results were
laration sincerely. The party under his declared and said that the suprema-
leadership will also have to calibrate cy of the Gandhi family will continue
its strategy for the larger opposition despite Mallikarjun Kharge becoming
unity for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls the party chief.
and to take on the BJP’s formidable Kumar said, “As far as authority
“election machine”. is concerned, it is known to all that the
But his first task is to unite the Congress President has all the rights.
party which is badly divided at the mo- But it is also the ground reality that
ment. Congress leader Shashi Tha- the supremacy in the Congress party
roor who lost to Kharge in the party only belongs to the Gandhi family and
election, on Thursday, said that it was as long as the Gandhi family is there,
clear from the beginning that the par- they will be dominant”.
ty’s establishment would rally behind He claimed that Kharge would
his opponent. not be able to succeed in the party
“I’m not upset, it was clear from without the support of Sonia Gandhi
the beginning that the party’s estab- and the Gandhi family members. “It
lishment would rally behind my oppo- seems that considering the condition
nent (M Kharge),” Tharoor said while of the Congress party, Sonia Gand-
speaking at the launch of Congress hi will not create any hindrance in
veteran and former Union minister Kharge’s work and will encourage
Mohsina Kidwai’s biography in the him to work,” he said.
national capital. He said that he spoke That is a big challenge for the par-
to Sonia Gandhi and she said “Look Kharge holding hand of party leader Shashi Tharoor at his residence on Wednesday (ANI) ty, the Gandhi family and Mallikarjun
it’s not surprising that most of the Kharge too.

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