'May he have a fruitful tenure': PM Modi congratulates Mallikarjun Kharge on being elected Congress president

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday extended wishes to veteran Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on being elected the Congress party president. In a tweet, PM Modi said, "My best wishes to Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji for his new responsibility as President of @INCIndia. May he have a fruitful tenure ahead. @kharge."

Mallikarjun Kharge became the first non-Gandhi Congress president in 24 years, defeating Shashi Tharoor.

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Congress's central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry announced Kharge's name after the counting of votes and said that of the total 9,385 votes polled in the Congress president poll, Kharge got 7,897 votes and Tharoor received 1,072 votes. The rest of the 416 votes were declared invalid.

For Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor, it had been a fierce battle where Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and party stalwart Digvijaya Singh also contemplated contesting but decided to not jump into fray once Kharge decided to throw in his hat.

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After 22 years, Congress held internal elections and even through the contenders maintained it's a "friendly contest", it was fought with both sides leaving no stone unturned.

Mallikarjun Kharge saw immense support from across the party where leaders, both veterans and young guns, decided to give up on their individual roles in the Congress and campaign for the Dalit heavyweight.

Kharge ended up steering the entire campaign in his favour where Tharoor felt that there was a sense of preferential treatment meted out to his opponent.

• Congress
• Indian National Congress
• Mallikarjun Kharge
• Narendra Modi
• Congress President
• Prime Minister