Congress
After winning, Mallikarjun Kharge wanted to meet Sonia Gandhi and she had a different plan. Read here
New Delhi/IBNS: After winning the Congress internal elections and being declared the next president of the grand old party Mallikarjun Kharge requested an appointment with Sonia Gandhi at her 10, Janpath home.
But Sonia Gandhi decided that given the occasion, it really should be the other way round.
So, from 10 Janpath, the meeting shifted to 10 Rajaji Marg, which is Kharge's home.
Sonia Gandhi's visit to Kharge's home marks a break from the age-old convention in the Congress.
The Congress leadership has rarely visited any party leader's home with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh being an exception.
In 2015, Sonia Gandhi led a Congress march from the party office to Manmohan Singh's home in a show of solidary after the two-time Prime Minister was summoned in a coal scam case.
With Sonia Gandhi's 10-minute drive to Kharge's home, the party hopes to send out a new message to members- that Kharge is the new chief.
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi stressed that like every Congress member, he would report to "Kharge-ji".
"I will report to the new president," Rahul Gandhi told NDTV.
"The new president will decide my role in the party," he said to multiple questions on a new Congress boss taking over.
Kharge became the first non-Gandhi president of the party in the past 24 years as the highly-anticipated results of the Congress internal polls were declared earlier in the day.
The elections, where Kharge took on Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, were held Monday.
Kharge, who is known to be close to the Gandhi family, won comfortably by over 6,000 votes.
Kharge will succeed outgoing Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, who assumed the post after Rahul Gandhi stepped down following the party's 2019 Lok Sabha poll debacle.
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