Mallikarjun Mapanna Kharge (born 21 July 1942) is an Indian politician and lawyer from Karnataka. He has served as the President of the Indian National Congress since 2022 and as the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha since 2021. He has been a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha representing Karnataka since 2020.
Kharge began his career in state politics, representing the Gurmitkal Assembly constituency in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from 1972 to 2008, and the Chittapur Assembly constituency from 2008 to 2009. He served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from 1996 to 1999 and as President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee from 2005 to 2008. During this period, he held various ministerial portfolios under successive chief ministers.
He entered national politics when he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Gulbarga, Karnataka, serving from 2009 to 2019. In the UPA-2 government, he served as the Union Minister of Labour and Employment from 2009 to 2013, and subsequently as the Union Minister of Railways from 2013 to 2014. He was a General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee in charge of Maharashtra from 2018 to 2020, and the Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee in the 16th Lok Sabha from 2016 to 2019.
After being elected to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka in 2020, Kharge contested and won the 2022 Indian National Congress presidential election, defeating Shashi Tharoor and succeeding Sonia Gandhi. Under his presidency, the Congress gained 47 seats in the 2024 Indian general election, enabling the party to form the official opposition for the first time since 2014. He is regarded as a close ally of the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Adapted from the English Wikipedia article on Mallikarjun Kharge