Challenges plenty

Tough tests await newly-elected Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, the party’s first non-Gandhi chief in more than 24 years, as he steers the ‘grand old party’ through the many challenges on the road to the 2024 general elections. His elevation to the party’s top post comes when the Congress is in power in just two states on its own – Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh – and faces a very aggressive incumbent BJP in election-bound Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat a few weeks from now.This will be Kharge’s first challenge. Later in 2023, the Congress president will face the onerous task of leading the party in nine assembly elections, including in his home state Karnataka. Kharge’s election also comes at a time when the party is reeling under internal rumblings and high-profile exits after a series of electoral debacles that have reduced it to a shadow of its former formidable self.He will have to fend off BJP’s allegations of being a front for the Gandhis and remote-controlled by them. Infighting has been a challenge for the Congress and recent developments in Rajasthan proved that, and so if the Gandhi family has had a problem in dealing with it, Kharge will have more problems.Whether he can successfully steer the party across the obstacles that await it on the road to 2024, only time will tell.