Mallikarjun Kharge

Kharge was born on 21 July 1942 in Varawatti in present-day Karnataka. His parents were Mapanna Kharge and Sabavva. He studied at Nutan Vidyalaya and Government College in Gulbarga, now Kalaburagi, before obtaining a law degree at Seth Shankarlal Lahoti Law College. His early legal practice included work for labour unions. He married Radhabai in 1968; they have three sons and two daughters.

Kharge’s political career began in student and labour organisation in Gulbarga. He became president of the city Congress committee in 1969 and first entered the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from Gurmitkal in 1972. He won nine successive assembly elections through 2008. His state ministerial responsibilities included education, revenue, rural development, industries, home, transport and water resources. He also served as opposition leader in the assembly.

Kharge entered the Lok Sabha from Gulbarga in 2009 and won re-election in 2014. He held Union portfolios including labour and employment, railways, and social justice and empowerment. During the sixteenth Lok Sabha he led the Congress parliamentary group. After losing the Gulbarga election in 2019, he entered the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka in 2020 and became opposition leader in 2021.

In October 2022, Kharge was elected president of the Indian National Congress. His career thus moved from state party organisation and government to national party leadership. The Congress leadership biography records an interest in constitutional law, current affairs and history. A party press release dated 7 October 2026 identifies him as Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.