'May he have a fruitful tenure': PM Modi congratulates Mallikarjun Kharge on being elected Congress President

Mallikarjun Kharge, who was elected the new Congress president after defeating Shashi Tharoor in an electoral contest, is the first non-Gandhi party chief in 24 years.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday (October 19, 2022) congratulated Mallikarjun Kharge for being elected the new Congress president after defeating Shashi Tharoor in an electoral contest, the sixth in the party's 137-year-old history. Taking to his official Twitter account, Modi wished a "fruitful tenure" for Kharge.

"My best wishes to Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji for his new responsibility as President of INC. May he have a fruitful tenure ahead," he said in a tweet.

My best wishes to Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji for his new responsibility as President of @INCIndia. May he have a fruitful tenure ahead. @kharge — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 19, 2022

Modi's tweet came minutes after Mallikarjun Kharge addressed a press conference and said that all have to work together to fight the "fascists forces" threatening democracy and the Constitution.

A vocal critic of the Modi-led government, Kharge also said that no one in the party is big or small and that he will work as a true Congress soldier to strengthen the organisation.

"No one is big or small and all have to work together as karyakartas to strengthen the Congress," he said.

LIVE: Newly elected Congress President Shri @kharge addresses the media from his residence. https://t.co/besQLfrIYf — Congress (@INCIndia) October 19, 2022

Earlier in the day, Congress' central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry announced that of the 9,385 votes polled in the Congress president poll, Kharge received 7,897 votes, while Tharoor got 1,072 and 416 votes were declared invalid.

Kharge is the first non-Gandhi Congress president in 24 years and will formally take over as the party's chief on October 26.