Mallikarjun Kharge was on October 19 declared as the new Congress president, the first non-Gandhi to assume the post in the last 24 years and the second Dalit to assume the top post in the 137-year-old party after he defeated his rival, Shashi Tharoor, in the election by an overwhelming 6,825 votes.
Kharge will be the third Dalit president for the party after, Damodaram Sanjeevaiah in 1962 and Jagjivan Ram in 1969. Interestingly, it was the same year (1969) Jagjivan Ram became party chief and Kharge joined Congress and became the president of Gulbarga City Congress Committee president.