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Why Kharge? And Why Now?

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2023-12-21 06:36:00

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

As expected, the Congress is reportedly all set to reject the proposal by Mamata Banerjee, seconded by Arvind Kejriwal, to make Mallikarjun Kharge the face of the I.N.D.I.A alliance. The party is reportedly of the view that the proposal will lead to unnecessary friction within the party. Mamata Banerjee had, surprisingly, proposed Kharge's name at the I.N.D.I.A bloc meeting on Wednesday despite all parties being clear that the question of who will be prime minister if the alliance wins will be decided after the results for the 2024 elections were out.

It is being reported that five parties, including TMC, AAP, Shiv Sena (Uddhav), DMK and NCP had held a discussion in this regard before Banerjee announced Kharge's name in the meeting. What were the leaders of the said party trying to do with this proposal? It is well known that despite Kharge heading the Congress, the real power is in the hands of the Gandhi family. It is also well known that for the family, all the resources and efforts of the party are directed towards making Rahul Gandhi the prime minister. Hence, it was a given that the Congress would never agree to Kharge's name. Then why did the senior leaders in the alliance propose his name?

It is also well known that most of the senior leaders in the I.N.D.I.A alliance are particularly averse to having Rahul Gandhi lead the alliance. Some feel that he is too junior to be so projected, others point to the fact that he has no administrative experience (Gandhi has never been part of any government as a minister, at the Centre or in the states) while still others (like Nitish Kumar) have their own ambitions. Proposing Kharge's name could have been their way to tell the Congress that Rahul Gandhi is unacceptable to them. They also indicated by their action that they are ready to give Congress the pole position in the alliance if Kharge, and not Rahul Gandhi, leads the party.

But this is going to create problems within the alliance. Already, it is being reported that JD(U) and RJD are miffed with the proposal. Then, the Congress will also not agree. Thus it is better for the alliance to keep the question of leadership open. As Kharge said, let the alliance win first. 

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