Mallikarjun Kharge to be Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha

New Delhi: The Congress leadership has chosen senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge, 79, as its new Rajya Sabha leader to succeed Ghulam Nabi Azad, as widely expected. Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu is expected to formally appoint Kharge as the Leader of the Opposition shortly.

AICC general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal has sent a formal letter to the Rajya Sabha secretariat, informing it that Congress Parliamentary Party leader Sonia Gandhi has designated Kharge as the leader of the Congress in the Upper House, while requesting chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu to designate him as the LOP, said party functionaries.

Gandhi informed Azad and deputy leader Anand Sharma about the decision in advance, they said.


The move indicated the leadership’s determination to avoid a technical vacuum in the RS leadership and speculation on who would be the next LOP. While the leadership informally referred to Kharge’s long years in leadership roles, his Dalit identity and South Indian origin (the Congress floor leader in the Lok Sabha is from West Bengal) are among reasons that influenced his selection. Congress circles have been maintaining Kharge would be the leadership’s ‘safe bet’.

Among other eligible Congress seniors are Sharma, formally part of the change-seekers in the party, P Chidambaram, who too has advocated the need for organisational and functional reforms, and Digvijaya Singh an entrenched leader.

While BJP veteran LK Advani had the rare distinction of becoming the LOP in both Houses, Kharge was Congress floor leader in the Lok Sabha from 2014-19. He was elected to RS after his defeat in 2019.

His fortunes in the Congress saw a turnaround twice -after he lost the race for the post of the Karnataka CM to Dharam Singh and later Siddaramaiah. Congress Working Committee member Kharge has been a nine-term MLA, a minister in Karnataka several times, a Union minister and an AICC general secretary.