Veteran Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge will be the next Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha. He will succeed senior Congress leader and present Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is set to retire from the Upper House on February 15.
With no Assembly in spot in Jammu and Kashmir, the quick likelihood of Ghulam Nabi Azad’s return to Rajya Sabha is uncertain. His possibilities of a return to Rajya Sabha was only attainable from Kerala, exactly where election to the Upper House is scheduled for April. Meanwhile, Congress had also maintained silence on Azad’s return to the House and now with clarity on Kharge’s name for LoP, it has been created clear that Azad is not going to return in the close to future.
Mallikarjun Kharge was elected to Rajya Sabha in June final year immediately after Congress accommodated him in the House following his defeat in the 2019 polls. Kharge, amongst the trusted aides of the Gandhi household, will be the 17th Leader of Opposition in the Upper House. Also, he will be the second Karnataka leader to hold the position. Prior to him, M S Gurupadaswamy served as the Leader of Opposition amongst March 1971 and April 1972.
Azad was provided a tearful send-off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Rajya Sabha. Speaking throughout his farewell, PM Modi had stated that these replacing Azad will have a difficult activity ahead matching his stature. The PM had recalled the 2006 Jammu and Kashmir terror attack when Azad was the CM in the state and had extended all attainable assist to him as the then Gujarat CM.