Hyderabad (Telangana) : At the age of seven Mallikarjun Kharge saw his mother and sister burnt alive inside their house by the private army of the Nizam of Hyderabad. Little kharge had to leave their village Varavatti in Bhalki taluk of Bidar district in Karnataka with his father forever. The struggle that started at the age of seven remains as a part of his political narrative all through his life.
The nearly undefeated leader of Karnataka started his political journey by winning the Gurmitkal assembly constituency - a reserved constituency in Kalaburagi district- in 1972 which he represented successively till 2008 before he switched to Chittapur. He only lost to BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Ironically enough this eight times MLA and two times MP but he had to wait for 50 years before he could get his shot at the party's top post.
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Though Kharge has remained loyal to the Gandhis and Congress all through his life, this decent and seasoned politician has been a Chief Minister-in-waiting every-time Congress government came to power in Karnataka after the mid-80s. He only ended up holding key portfolios in all Congress ruled regimes from D Devaraj's tenure instead.
In 2004, the post slipped out of his hands and was bagged by Dharam Singh under the Congress-JD(S) alliance as the latter was considered appropriate for a coalition government. But Kharge's biggest disappointment in missing the post was in 2013, when the party decided to have an election for the Congress Legislature Party leader as there were too many heavyweights vying for it and Siddaramaiah emerged the winner.
According to political observers, Kharge's political growth in Karnataka as a Congressman representing the Scheduled Castes was not smooth as politics in the state is dominated by the Lingayats and Vokkaligas. But the spirit to take on his rivals was evident when he was the legal advisor to MSK mills in Kalaburagi and trade union leader of Samyukta Mazdoor Sangh in 1969, also the year he joined the Congress and headed the party's Kalaburagi city unit.
It is true that gave Kharge an entry into electoral politics in 1972 but he had to wait till 2014 before he could come closer to the Gandhis. The groundwork started in 2009 when the Congress high command was looking for “winnable” candidates for the Lok Sabha polls as the BJP was consolidating its position in Karnataka and Kharge was given tickets from Kalaburagi.
Kharge won from the constituency twice in 2009 and 2014 but his role as floor leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019 brought him closer to the Gandhis and he was given the responsibility of Maharashtra in 2018. It surprised many as Kharge was then the floor leader and also heading the Public Accounts Committee.
Though he was deprived of his legitimate claim, his loyalty towards Congress and the Gandhi family never had a dent. Many are of the opinion that his unflinching allegiance towards Gandhi family finally paid him off but it is not fidelity rather a timely recognition of his 73 years of struggle that started at the age of seven to bring the Dalits and the underprivileged to limelight.
Mallikarjun Kharge's struggle to the top finds an apt expression in his son Priyank's attribution who said his father's “quest for equity, no compromise on ideology and always punching above his weight” has taken him where he is today.
