Mallikarjun Kharge, the Congress president, has dismissed the notion that senior party figures are retreating from the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. At a press briefing held at his New Delhi residence, Kharge confronted the issue head-on, countering insinuations of evasion from electoral battles. While Kharge himself appeared ambivalent about running, citing his senior age of 83 as a potential deterring factor, he declared his readiness to participate if urged by party workers. Drawing on his past electoral experience as an MP for Karnataka’s Gulbarga from 2009-2014, and noting his current role as Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha—despite losing his seat in 2019—Kharge emphasized the capricious nature of political forefronts and backstages, as well as the internal competition within parties for election contention.
Fueling the fiery discourse on electoral guarantees, Kharge accused the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of appropriating Congress’s strategies, particularly concerning the promise of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for farmers. He recalled the Congress’s success in Karnataka elections and its consequent implementation in Telangana, critiquing Modi for claiming the guarantee as a BJP initiative. Pulse of the agrarian community, the MSP has been central to farmer protests, with demands for its legal assurance intensifying. Kharge committed to the formulation of draft rules to cement MSP provisions, ensuring legal backing for farmers, a promise reflecting the Congress’s continued guarantee for the agriculturists, as thousands continue to demonstrate at border points since February 13, rallying for their cause.
Kharge’s comments served to clarify his stance on both personal election involvement and party politics. He articulated a concerted readiness to defend and promote party policies despite personal considerations and decried the BJP’s alleged appropriation of Congress initiatives as a part of the political narrative shaping the lead-up to the polls.