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Mallikarjun Kharge

President of the Indian National Congress since 2022

21 July 1942 India Verified by our editors

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Age: 84 yrs; Birthday in 268 days
Works listed: 0; Career highlights
Honours: 0; Awards & distinctions
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Quick facts

Born: 21 July 1942 (age 84)
Varavatti, Bidar district, Karnataka
Country: India
Occupation: Lawyer, Politician
Years active: 1972–present
Known for: Five decades in Karnataka and national politics; Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha
Offices: President, Indian National Congress (since October 2022); Leader of the Opposition, Rajya Sabha (since 2021)
Previous posts: Union Minister of Railways (2013–2014); Labour and Employment (2009–2013)
Party: Indian National Congress
Spouse: Radhabai Kharge
Children: Includes Priyank Kharge
Nickname: Solillada Saradara (undefeated leader)
Religion: Buddhism
Rajya Sabha: Karnataka, since 2020
Star sign: Cancer

Mallikarjun Kharge · Photo: Photo: Ajay Kumar Koli / CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Also in Politics & Leadership

Mallikarjun Kharge is the president of the Indian National Congress and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. A Dalit leader from Karnataka who won nine consecutive assembly elections, he is the first party president from outside the Nehru–Gandhi family in over two decades.

Biography

Early life

Kharge grew up in poverty in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region; his mother and sister were killed in communal violence when he was a child. He studied in Gulbarga (Kalaburagi), took a law degree and worked as a lawyer for trade unions before entering politics.

Karnataka

First elected to the Karnataka assembly from Gurmitkal in 1972, Kharge won nine assembly elections in a row and held many portfolios, including revenue, education and home. He twice served as Leader of the Opposition in the assembly.

National leadership

Elected to the Lok Sabha from Gulbarga in 2009, he became Union Minister of Labour and Employment and later of Railways in the Manmohan Singh government, and led the Congress in the Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019. In 2021 he became Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

In October 2022 he won the Congress presidential election against Shashi Tharoor, becoming the first non-Gandhi president of the party since Sitaram Kesri. He led the party into the 2024 general election, in which it nearly doubled its tally.

Lawyer and unionist

Before politics, Kharge practised law in Gulbarga (now Kalaburagi), mostly representing trade unions and workers. He was a leader of the Gulbarga city Congress and active in the labour movement, which shaped his later work as Union Labour Minister.

Electoral record

Kharge won nine consecutive assembly elections from Gurmitkal between 1972 and 2004, and later Chitapur, earning the nickname “Solillada Saradara” (leader without defeat). His first electoral defeat came in the 2019 Lok Sabha election in Gulbarga, after which he moved to the Rajya Sabha. He is one of the senior-most Dalit leaders in Indian politics, and a practising Buddhist.