Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday reached the city to a grand welcome accorded by party leaders and workers. This is Kharge's maiden visit to Bengaluru since he assumed charge as the Congress president. Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Congress state president D K Shivakumar and party MLAs and office bearers received the newly elected national president at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru.
A felicitation ceremony-- 'Sarvodaya Samavesha' has been organised at the Bengaluru Palace ground today, where AICC general secretary and Karnataka party in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala will also be present. It will be the grand old party's show of strength in the poll-bound Karnataka, where the assembly elections are due in less than six months, party sources said.
A Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka and a former union minister, Kharge was elected as the Congress president on October 19 after defeating rival Shashi Tharoor. 80-year-old Kharge, a Gandhi family loyalist, hails from Kalaburagi in Karnataka. He is the first Congress president in the last 24 years from the non-Gandhi family.
He is the second AICC president from Karnataka, the first one being Nijalingappa. He is also the second Dalit Congress president after Jagjivan Ram.
ALSO READ | Mallikarjun Kharge will be an inspiration to party workers: Sonia Gandhi
