Mallikarjun Kharge to continue as Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha for now

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge (Image: @ANI/Twitter)

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is likely to continue as the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha for now.

Sources said the party has not taken a decision on his resignation which he had submitted while contesting the Congress president election.

"Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will engage with opposition parties not just as the president of the Congress party but also as the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha," AICC general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh said when asked about Kharge.

He said there was no discussion on Kharge's continuation as Leader of Opposition at the parliamentary strategy group meeting held at Sonia Gandhi's residence Saturday evening.

"Sonia ji is chairperson of our Parliamentary party and Kharge ji is president of our party. This issue cannot be discussed in a committee meeting. Whatever action is to be taken, our Parliamentary party chief will decide," he told reporters.

Kharge had sent the resignation to the chairperson of the Congress parliamentary party Sonia Gandhi in October, when he was contesting the Congress president's election.

Sources said many of the senior Congress leaders are participating in the Bharat Jodo Yatra and may skip the winter session of Parliament and thus no decision on the issue was taken.

Among the contenders for the post are senior party leaders Digvijaya Singh, P Chidambaram, and K C Venugopal.