New Delhi, Oct. 25 :Veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge will formally take over as Congress president on Wednesday after he is handed over the certificate of election and the baton by Sonia Gandhi at a function here.
Hectic preparations were underway at the Congress headquarters for the ceremony where party president Sonia Gandhi will hand over the baton to her successor, Mallikarjun Kharge, the first non-Gandhi to head the outfit in 24 years.
Kharge defeated Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor in a direct contest for the top post in the grand old party after the Gandhis opted out of the race.
Ahead of his taking over, Kharge called on former prime minister Manmohan Singh at his residence and spent some time with him.
On Wednesday morning Kharge will pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat and also visit memorials of former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, besides former deputy prime minister Jagjivan Ram.
Kharge, 80, takes charge of the party at a time when it faces a tough challenge from a formidable BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which has ousted the Congress from many states.
Meanwhile, security personnel and workers made last-minute arrangements in the Congress president’s office and on the AICC headquarters lawns where a tent was being put up.
Chairman of the central election authority of the Congress Madhusudan Mistry will formally hand over the election certificate to Kharge at the function, which will also see the presence of outgoing chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
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