Mallikarjun Kharge is an Indian lawyer and politician who was appointed as the President of the Indian National Congress in 2022 and the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha in 2021.
Warwatti, Hyderabad State, British India (later Karnataka, India)
Nationality
Education
Mallikarjun Kharge studied at Nutan Vidyalaya in Gulbarga and then got enrolled at the Government College, Gulbarga, from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Later, he attended Seth Shankarlal Lahoti Law College in Gulbarga and earned a law degree.
Radhabai Kharge (1968-Present) – On May 13, 1968, he tied the knot with Radhabai Kharge and the duo has 5 children together – two daughters and three sons (including Priyank Mallikarjun Kharge (b. November 22, 1978)).
Race / Ethnicity
Asian (Indian)
Mallikarjun Kharge is of Dalit descent.
Mallikarjun Kharge as seen at the University of Hyderabad during protests relating suicide of Rohith Vemula in 2016 (Ajay Kumar Koli / YouTube / CC BY 3.0 DEED)
Hair Color
Gray
Eye Color
Dark Brown
Sexual Orientation
Straight
Distinctive Features
Receding Hairline
Mallikarjun Kharge Facts
He was 7 years old when his mother and sister were killed in a fire set off by the Razakars (or the private militia of the Nizam of Hyderabad) while he himself had a narrow escape in 1948.
Mallikarjun Kharge began his legal practice as a junior in Justice Shivaraj Patil’s office.
During the early years of his career, he fought cases for labor unions.
His political career started as a student union leader during his time at the Government College, Gulbarga.
He was appointed as the legal advisor to the MSK Mills Employees’ Union in 1969. The same year, he joined the Indian National Congress and became President of the Kalaburagi Town Congress Committee.
In 1972, Mallikarjun Kharge first contested the Karnataka State Assembly elections and won from Gurmitkal constituency.
He became the Chairperson of the Octroi Abolition Committee in 1973.
He served as the Minister for Co-operation, Medium and Large Industries in the Veerappa Moily Cabinet between 1992 and 1994.
Mallikarjun Kharge was elected for the 6th time to the Karnataka Assembly from Gurmitkal in 1994 and was subsequently appointed as the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
He served as the Minister for Home in the S. M. Krishna Cabinet during a particularly tough time for Karnataka, especially the kidnap of actor Rajkumar by the notorious smuggler and bandit Veerappan and the Cauvery Riots.
He became the President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee in 2005.
Kharge contested the general elections from Gulbarga Parliamentary Constituency in 2009 and won his 10th consecutive election.
He successfully contested the 2014 general elections from the Gulbarga parliamentary seat, beating Revunaik Belamagih from the BJP with a margin of 74,737 votes.
In the 2019 general elections, he contested from Gulbarga parliamentary seat and lost to Umesh G. Jadhav from the BJP with a margin of 95,452 votes.
With his appointment as the President of the Indian National Congress in 2022, Mallikarjun Kharge became the first INC President not from the Gandhi family in 24 years.
For the 2024 general election, his name was proposed as the prime ministerial candidate of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.
He has served as the Founder-Chairperson of Siddharth Vihar Trust which has built the Buddha Vihar in Gulbarga, India.
Reportedly, Mallikarjun Kharge is multilingual and speaks languages like English, Hindi, Urdu, Kannada, and Marathi.
A patron of the Chowdiah Memorial Hall (a concert and theater venue located in Bangalore), Kharge helped the center get over its debts as well as aided the center’s plans for renovation.
