On Sunday, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge expressed that after the 1999 Karnataka Assembly elections, the party high command did not reward him fairly. At that time, S.M. Krishna was appointed as Chief Minister, although he had joined the Congress merely four months earlier.
Kharge recounted how his hopes of ascending to the state's top position were dashed. As the leader of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP), he dedicated five years of rigorous effort, but it felt like all his hard work was wasted.
'I Worked Diligently for Five Years, But It Was All for Nothing'
Addressing the program in Vijayapura, the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Kharge, stated, 'I became the CLP leader, strived with all my might to bring the party to power. Our government was indeed formed, but S.M. Krishna, who had been with the Congress only four months, became the Chief Minister.'
He further added, 'It felt as if all our efforts went down the drain. I labored for five consecutive years, and yet he (Krishna) who joined merely four months ago, was made the Chief Minister.' Kharge mentioned that such incidents have occurred multiple times before, though it wouldn’t be appropriate to discuss them all together now.
S.M. Krishna Became Karnataka's 16th Chief Minister in 1999
For the record, S.M. Krishna took office as Karnataka's 16th Chief Minister in October 1999. In that assembly election, Congress secured 132 out of 224 seats. During his tenure, and in subsequent Congress governments, Kharge served as a minister. Later, he ran for the Lok Sabha elections in 2009 and upon winning, he was appointed as the Union Minister for Labour and Employment. Subsequently, he also held the positions of Railway Minister and Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment.
The Tale of Kharge's Election as Congress President
Mallikarjun Kharge emerged victorious against Shashi Tharoor to become the Congress President in 2022. In this election, Kharge secured 7,987 votes while Tharoor received a mere 1,072 votes, signifying Kharge's strong support from the party high command and its workers. Over 9,000 Congress delegates across the nation cast their votes to elect their president on October 17.
Kharge became the first non-Gandhi president of Congress in 24 years. Under his leadership, Congress won 99 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a substantial increase of almost 50 seats compared to 2019. However, under his presidency, the party lost assembly elections in key states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, and Maharashtra.
