Mallikarjun Kharge: 10 lesser known facts about the new Congress president

Of the total 9,385 votes, Kharge received 7,897 votes, Tharoor got 1,072 votes, and 416 votes were invalid.

Here’s some interesting facts of the new president of Congress

-Mallikarjun Kharrge is the second Dalit president of Congress in five decades after Jagjivan Ram became Congress chief in 1970

-Kharge is a polyglot who is fluent in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi, Kannada and English. 

-The former union minister of Railways was born on 21 July, 1942 in Bidar district of Karnataka and studied in a Marathi medium government school

–Kharge lost his mother to communal violence at the age of 7. The incident left a deep impact on him thereby shaping up his adult ideology as a secularist

-The Indian politician is a practising Buddhist and a self-declared ardent follower of BR Ambedkar

-Mallikarjun Kharge also has sportsmanship to add to his wall of fame. He was a state-level player in kabaddi and hockey. He also used to play football and cricket. Till a couple of years ago, the politician would often be seen at stadiums catching up on the latest match

-Kharge joined Congress in 1969, the year then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was expelled from the grand old party. He became the president of Kalaburagi Town Congress Committee the same year at the age of just 27

-Kharge is an arts graduate from Government College, Kalaburagi. He also holds a law degree from the Seth Shankarlal Lahoti Law College in Kalaburagi. A labour law expert, he practised under Shivaraj Patil, who later became a Supreme Court judge

-Kharge is also known as ‘Solilada Sardara’, which means undefeated chieftain, because he was elected to the Karnataka assembly nine times consecutively, between 1972 and 2008. He also won from the Gulbarga Lok Sabha constituency in 2009 and 2014

–Kharge and wife Radhabai have three sons—Rahul, Priyank and Milind—and two daughters—Priyadarshini and Jayashree. Except for Priyank, who is a Congress MLA and a former Karnataka minister, the others are not in politics

-Kharge is a foodie. He loves his non-vegetarian palatte and a nice warm jowar roti. 

-He follows no specific exercise regime except physiotherapy post a knee surgery in 2017. At 80, he remains more agile than most of his compatriots

-It has been made known that Kharge can be extremely witty when in private.  His sense of humour and sarcasm have been said to put anyone in splits. At home, Kharge is a strict disciplinarian. He is particular about not wasting food, electricity and water