KALABURAGI: “It is Mallikarjun Kharge’s born habit to fight against injustice”, said his teacher who taught him at Nutana Vidyalaya Shethe Guruji, in a book ‘Karmayogi’ by B. Devendrappa. Shethe Guruji recalls that when Kharge was in Class 9 in Nutana Vidyalaya, a student was made to sit near the dais which drove Kharge to take up the matter with the school principal.
Kharge, (80), was born to poor labourers at Waravatti village of Bhalki taluk (Bidar district) on July 21, 1942. His father Mapanna Kharge shifted his house from Waravatti to Kalaburagi and struggled hard to provide education to his son by working as a labourer in MSK Mill.
Having started his political career from Kalaburagi district in 1969, it has taken half a century for Mallikarjun Kharge to ascend to the top post of the Grand Old Party. Former MP Iqbal Ahmed Saradagi, who is Kharge’s friend of 50 years and was also his classmate at college, said one outstanding quality of Kharge is that he has not made any false promises to anybody.
He also said Kharge has religiously shouldered responsibilities entrusted by the party. It was in 1969 when Kharge made his debut in politics when he joined the Indian National Congress and became the Kalaburagi unit president of the party.
From students’ union to Parliament, a long journey
During his college days, Kharge was the general secretary and later became vicepresident of the students’ union at Government College of Arts and Science where he completed his graduation. He later completed his LLB at Shankar Lal Lahoti Law College and became the legal advisor for MSK Mill Employees Association in 1969, the same year, when he joined the Congress. In 1972, he successfully contested from Gurumitkal (Reserve) Assembly Constituency and became MLA for the first time.
From 1972 to 2005, Kharge consecutively won from Gurmitkal constituency eight times in a row. After Gurmitkal was made a general constituency in 2008 and Chittapur constituency became a Reserve constituency, Kharge contested from Chittapur in 2008 Assembly elections and won, which was his ninth victory in Assembly elections. Following directions from the party high command, Kharge resigned as MLA from Chittapur and contested the Lok Sabha polls in 2009 and in 2014 from Kalaburagi (Gulbarga) constituency and won. He, however, lost in 2019.
Congress party then nominated him for the Rajya Sabha polls held on June 12, 2020 in which he was elected unanimously. Kharge has held several party posts which include Kalaburagi unit president of Congress (1969), General Secretary of KPCC (1985-87), Vice-president of KPCC (1988-89) and president of KPCC in 2005.
Kharge served as minister in the cabinets of CMs Devaraj Urs, Gundu Rao, SM Krishna and Dharam Singh, and held several portfolios including Home, Irrigation, Rural Development, Primary and Secondary Education and Cooperation. When Manmohan Singh was the PM, Kharge handled the Labour and Railway ministries.
After winning in the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, Kharge was made Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. After getting elected to Rajya Sabha in 2020, he was made the Leader of Opposition in the Upper House.