In the primary week of January, Kharge shifted Tagore to Goa and appointed Maharashtra chief Manickaro Thakre because the in-charge of Telangana. Rahul didn’t intervene or oppose. At the identical time, Kharge allowed Reddy to proceed — after gathering that he was massively widespread among the many Congress cadre — with the agency message that he must take everybody alongside.

Cut to May this 12 months. With each Siddaramaiah and D Okay Shivakumar taking part in hardball and the management unable to resolve on the chief minister even 4 days after the Congress registered an emphatic victory in Karnataka, Kharge subtly let or not it’s recognized to each that the celebration may have a look at choices past them. The message was agency and it had the specified impression. Within hours, the 2 agreed to the management’s components — Siddaramaiah as CM and Shivakumar as the only real Deputy CM.

As he heads into the primary anniversary of his time period as Congress president on October 26, Kharge, 81 – the primary non-Gandhi to helm the Congress in two-and-a-half a long time – has proven that he has a thoughts of his personal, may be agency and, on the identical time, accommodating. He has emerged as a consensus builder in a celebration which is usually chaotic. He has pushed the envelope on a few events, acquiesced to the desires of the Gandhis at instances and deferred to the collective knowledge at others.

The final non-Gandhi president of the Congress was Sitaram Kesri, and earlier than him, P V Narasimha Rao.

A precedent president

Kharge’s scenario is completely different from different non-Gandhi predecessors. The household was not in lively politics when Rao and Kesri have been presidents. Sonia largely operated from behind the scenes, from the time of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991 until 1998. Now, three members of the Gandhi household are in lively politics. However, each previous presidents themselves, Rahul and Sonia have gone out of their method to ship a message to the leaders that Kharge needs to be given the respect as a result of a Congress president.

They know that even the small gestures matter. For occasion, every time Sonia or Rahul or the 2 collectively make a joint look with Kharge (be it at a celebration perform or a go to to memorials), it’s ensured that the latter reaches the venue final, in deference to the place he holds. And it’s all well-coordinated. Invariably a message is relayed by Sonia’s workplace or Rahul’s crew that they’ve left for the venue, and Kharge can go away 5 or 10 minutes later. And then they wait if wanted for Kharge to reach.

“Both Sonia and Rahul respect Kharge. In fact, Rahul’s affection is visible in his body language,” one chief stated.

At the identical time, Kharge’s time period has not fully been rigidity free, and has concerned some give and take. The re-constitution of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), for instance, which noticed intense pulls and pressures. “The list was revised 25 times,” stated one chief within the know, in solely a gentle exaggeration.

The preliminary checklist didn’t have the names of among the veterans — amongst them A Okay Antony, seen as just about retired from politics. But Sonia was of the view that veterans reminiscent of Antony and Harish Rawat needs to be included, as elders needs to be given their due place and dropping them could be unkind. “Take a closer look at the list of CWC members. It has many stories to tell,” a senior chief stated.

Rahul too wished some modifications. “While the perception is that Rahul has delinked himself from day-to-day affairs of the party, that he is not taking interest, but that is not entirely the case. He keeps track, there was some back and forth,” one chief stated.

However, as one other chief stated: “It was not acrimonious… the exercise was amicable. The delay was because Kharge wanted to strike the right balance, keeping in mind the wishes of the family as well.”

Essentially, Kharge wished a “lean and younger” trying CWC. Sources stated leaders like Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, Ramesh Chennithala and Syed Nasser Hussain have been his selection, despite the fact that Tharoor had contested towards him within the Congress presidential election. Rahul wished the inclusion of Charanjit Singh Channi, Punjab’s first Dalit chief minister, moreover others reminiscent of Meenakshi Natarajan and Girish Chodankar who’re seen as members of his crew.

Affairs of state

Among the largest successes of Kharge has maybe been the truce he managed to implement in Rajasthan. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his rival Sachin Pilot, it’s stated, weren’t even speaking to one another once they sat down with Kharge and Venugopal in May. “Gehlot said, what is there to talk about… From there to bringing about a reconciliation was a huge achievement,” one chief stated.

“Kharge was clear. He told both Gehlot and Pilot that there is nothing wrong to have personal ambitions, but that the party was more important. Those remarks, coming from a person who himself lost the CM race thrice but did not rebel and continued to work for the party… it makes a lot of difference. He has that tact,” one chief stated.

At the identical time, Kharge has made it clear that he received’t be pressured into taking a choice. “You saw that in Himachal Pradesh. Even before the CLP met, Pratibha Singh (the state Congress president) gave some statement that the party cannot neglect Virbhadra Singh’s family because the election was fought on his work… Kharge told the observers to tell her that there is a process for selection of CM, and that she cannot be making such statements,” one chief within the know stated.

The success in getting T S Singh Deo to simply accept the Deputy CM put up in Chhattisgarh was additionally a shock. “Kharge and Rahul had a talk before that. It is not clear whose idea it was, but clearly they were working together as there was a sense that the state unit could implode,” one chief stated.

Organisationally, Kharge is now dealing with one other problem — the appointment of latest office-bearers. “The list would be yet another reflection of the pulls and pressures. Many of those who are close to Rahul could be made in-charges. Jitendra Singh, who is now the general secretary in-charge of Assam, could be given an additional state,” one chief stated.

The Priyanka query

The elephant within the room is claimed to be Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the overall secretary in control of Uttar Pradesh. She will not be eager to proceed in that function.

“The list perhaps is held up as there is no clarity on her role. Giving a bigger organisational role and profile to Priyanka would dilute the raison d’etre behind the appointment of a non-Gandhi as the Congress president,” one chief stated. As it’s, Kharge has his fingers tied with regards to Uttar Pradesh. “He hasn’t touched UP. It is like a no-go area. For instance, the removal of Brijlal Khabri as UPCC president barely 10 months after his appointment was done at the behest of Priyanka’s team,” one chief stated.

But if there’s a method to be discovered, Kharge has proven that he can do it, if with session and consensus. He has held detailed conferences with leaders from state after state, driving dwelling the necessity to get battle-ready for the Lok Sabha elections. Rahul has sat subsequent to him in most of these conferences, stretching for hours. Leaders have been allowed to air their views freely, with Kharge solely laying the situation that what transpired behind these closed doorways shouldn’t attain the media.

Organisational issues apart, Kharge can also be slowly creating good equations with Opposition figures in addition to rising as a very good orator, utilizing his speeches to assault the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi with out mincing phrases. His “Ravan” and “poisonous snake” jibes on the Prime Minister could have triggered controversies, however he stays scathing. Nor did he flinch when son Priyank Kharge took the lead over attacking the BJP on the tough Sanatan Dharma difficulty.

Many imagine the Congress’s embrace of social justice politics full throttle now too has a Kharge imprint.

Syed Naseer Hussain

From Karnataka’s Bellary, Hussain began his political profession as a pupil activist of the SFI and was in 1999 president of JNU Students’ Union. However, he later joined the NSUI. Congress nominated Hussain to Rajya Sabha in 2018. Hussain was certainly one of Kharge’s election managers when he contested for the put up of celebration president final 12 months. Kharge not too long ago inducted Hussain as a member of the CWC.

Pranav Jha

From Jharkhand, Jha started his political profession within the Youth Congress. A former AICC secretary in control of media, in 2022, Jha turned a member of the Madhusudan Mistry-led Central Election Authority, which oversaw the Congress presidential elections. He offers inputs for Kharge’s speeches.

Gurdeep Singh Sappal

Formerly OSD to former Vice-President Hamid Ansari and later CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Rajya Sabha TV, Sappal was appointed as one of many coordinators in Kharge’s workplace after the latter took over as Congress president. He was not too long ago appointed the celebration’s nominee within the I.N.D.I.A. alliance’s marketing campaign committee. He is now alo a everlasting invitee of the CWC.

Gaurav Pandhi & Rachit Seth

He and Seth have been amongst those that laid the groundwork for constructing the celebration’s social media division a decade in the past. In Kharge’s workplace, whereas Pandhi takes care of his tour programmes, Seth, who was earlier related to the celebration’s media and social media departments, takes care of the celebration president’s social media platforms.