Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge said on Saturday it was his loyalty and commitment to the party that got him into the Rajya Sabha where he will be the Leader of the Opposition.
"I am someone who believes in the party's ideology. I work with loyalty and commitment to the party. It is based on this that the party leaders made me a Rajya Sabha member and now the Leader of the Opposition," Kharge told reporters.
Kharge, a Gandhi family loyalist, will replace Ghulam Nabi Azad to lead the Congress in the Upper House of the Parliament.
"Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have given me this responsibility with trust and confidence in me. I am grateful. I will carry out this responsibility honestly," he said.
Kharge, 78, was Leader of Congress in the previous Lok Sabha. He was elected to Rajya Sabha in June 2020 after the party leadership decided to accommodate him in the Upper House after his loss in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
"I won elections for 48 years. In the last election, I lost because of the efforts of PM Modi, RSS and the BJP. But, I do not harbour anger," Kharge said, adding that he would work towards saving democracy.
Chanting the 'unity' mantra, Kharge urged his party colleagues to stick together. "I've said this before. It shouldn't be that fingers are pointed in defeat and credit is taken in victory. We must understand that defeat or victory is always that of the party. It's wrong to blame one another," he said.
In a reference to the apparent one-upmanship between Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D K Shivakumar, Kharge said both of them are what they are because of the party. "Siddaramaiah became the CM and Shivakumar the party president because of the Congress. We must support Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in their fight," he said.
Published 13 February 2021, 16:23 IST