New Delhi: Veteran leader Shri Mallikarjun Kharge formally took over as Congress President on October 26, 2022, after he was handed over the certificate of election to the top post at a function at the AICC headquarters.

He said that the Party will break the “system of lies and hatred” prevailing under the current government.

The 80-year-old leader Shri Kharge, the first non-Gandhi to head the Party in 24 years, had defeated Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor in a direct contest for the President’s post in the Grand Old Party after the Gandhis opted out of the race.

Speaking at the event Shri Kharge said that it was an emotional moment for him and he would like to thank Congress people for making a worker’s son and an ordinary worker, President of the Party. Kharge was handed over the ‘Certificate of Election’ as the Congress President by the Party’s central election authority Chairman Madhusudan Mistry.

Mistry said that he hopes other parties will draw a lesson from the Congress and hold polls for Party Presidency by secret ballot.

Outgoing Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi, former Chief Shri Rahul Gandhi and AICC General Secretary Smt. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were also present at the event which was attended by several top Party leaders.

Ahead of his taking over, Kharge Ji visited Rajghat and paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi Ji. He also visited the memorials of former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri Ji, Indira Gandhi Ji and former deputy Prime Minister Jagjivan Ram, and paid tributes to the leaders.