Mallikarjun Kharge is the new president of the Congress

He beat Shashi Tharoor. Commentators took his election for granted, but many doubt that he will be able to attract voters from northern states. For his part Rahul Gandhi has come to Andhra Pradesh with his “march for unity”.

New Delhi ( / Agencies) – For the first time in more than 20 years, the president of Congress will not be a member of the Gandhi family. Mallikarjun Kharge was elected with 7,897 votes and his main opponent, Shashi Tharoor, received just over 1,000 preferences in the internal elections that took place on October 17, the results of which were announced today. “The decision of the party delegates is final and I humbly accept it,” Tharoor said. “It is a privilege to be a member of a party that allows its members to elect their president.”

The triumph of Kharge, an 80-year veteran politician from the southern state of Karnataka, was predictable. A member of the Dalit community, he entered Congress in 1969 and since 1972 has won nine consecutive local elections in the Gurmitkal constituency. He served for several years as a minister in Karnataka and represented the opposition in both houses of the Indian Parliament.

However, this could be the most complex moment of his political career. Everyone wonders if his election will be able to give a new impetus to Congress – currently the main opposition party – in a way that allows it to challenge the Bharatiya Janata (BJP), the Hindu nationalist party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the 2024 general election.

In the last few days, Kharge has declared that he will not seek the approval of the Gandhi family, but will listen to their “guidance” and “suggestions.” According to analysts, the Dalit politician also has a good chance of bringing together the various souls of the party and reducing defections, but it remains doubtful that the Congress will be able to attract voters from the north of the country, especially in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which together elect 120 of the 545 deputies. At this time the Congress governs only two of the 28 Indian states.

Some commentators They believe that Shashi Tharoor would be the only politician with the charisma and oratorical ability to challenge Modi, but his election would have threatened to overshadow the de facto leader of Congress, Rahul Gandhi. The son of Sonia and Prime Minister Rajiv, assassinated in 1991, he left the presidency in 2019, but remained a key figure within the party, although he has received much criticism for still being too focused on the Gandhi family.

Rahul has been holding a 150-day “unity march” for months to rally new supporters. At this time he has arrived in the state of Andhra Pradesh, in the center-east of the country. However, analysts note that his chances were slim from the start and the purpose of the march seemed more like an attempt to rehabilitate his reputation after political defeats in 2014 and 2019 than a real effort to reinvigorate the party. And above all the party needs radical reforms to present itself as a credible alternative to the BJP.