Kharge makes way for son-in-law on home turf, unlikely to contest LS polls
Bengaluru (PTI): Amid firm indications that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is unlikely to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the party on Thursday fielded his son-in-law, Radhakrishna Doddamani, from his home turf of Gulbarga.
The octogenarian won the Lok Sabha polls from the Gulbarga (Kalaburagi) segment in 2009 and 2014, but lost the electoral contest in 2019.
"Kharge's hands are full. In addition to managing party affairs at the national level, he has to coordinate with the INDIA bloc partners. Also, his term in the Rajya Sabha is not yet over," a senior Congress leader said.
The Congress president's son, Priyank Kharge, who represents the Chittapur Assembly constituency in Gulbarga and is a minister in the Karnataka government, was not interested to throw his hat in the ring either and hence, Doddamani emerged as the natural choice, according to party sources.
The sources said the Congress president took the final call in the matter.
Doddamani is a businessman who also manages educational institutions. He was said to be initially reluctant to enter the poll fray, but finally gave in.
Born in Kalaburagi, Doddamani has maintained a low profile. He has always worked actively behind the scenes in managing and strategising Kharge's successive electoral campaigns.
He is said to be popular among the Congress workers and supporters, especially in the Gurmitkal Assembly segment, which Kharge represented consecutively between 1972 and 2004.
Kharge was defeated by the BJP's Umesh Jadhav by a margin of 95,452 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Popularly known as "Solillada Saradara (a leader who hasn't faced a defeat)", that was the first electoral loss in Kharge's political life spanning several decades.
Ahead of the 2019 polls, Jadhav had quit as a Congress MLA and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to contest the Lok Sabha election from Gulbarga.
The 2019 election was considered a tough one for Kharge, a nine-time former MLA and two-term former Lok Sabha member, as several senior Congress leaders like Baburao Chinchansur, A B Malaka Reddy and Malikayya Guttedar from the region had quit the party and joined the BJP.
These leaders, along with Jadhav, who had quit the Congress as they were upset over the "dominance" of Kharge and his son (who was then a minister in the Congress-JD-S coalition government in Karnataka) in the region, found a common ground and aggressively campaigned against the father-son duo.
Kharge, who was earlier the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, had served as the Union minister for labour and employment as also for railways and social justice and empowerment in the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
He had also held various portfolios in successive Congress governments that governed the southern state and was the president of the Karnataka Congress and leader of opposition in the state Assembly.
Gulbarga for long had been a bastion of the Congress. Before 2019, the party had lost its hold over the constituency only in the 1996 and 1998 Lok Sabha polls, when the Janata Dal and the BJP won the seat respectively.
Gulbarga has eight Assembly seats of which the Congress currently holds six. The BJP and the JD(S) hold one seat each.
The BJP has again fielded Jadhav from the constituency in the upcoming general election.
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Sonam Wangchuk justifies Ladakh agitation, says will join talks with Centre if needed
Kargil (PTI): Activist Sonam Wangchuk on Sunday defended the agitation for statehood and safeguards under the Sixth Schedule for Ladakh, and said he would not back out from joining talks with the government if the need for it arises.
Addressing a press conference, Wangchuk, who was released on March 14 after nearly six months of detention under the National Security Act, called for "open-minded and sincere" negotiations and striking a middle path.
He also expressed hope that the ongoing protests would lead to a positive and amicable solution.
"The demand for safeguards under the Sixth Schedule and statehood is based on democratic rights entailed in the Constitution and is completely legitimate. I have always maintained that for the last 5-6 years, we have been engaged in discussions with the government on these issues, yet no solution has emerged. This is because the other side seems to have adopted a rigid stance," Wangchuk told reporters here.
He stressed that the negotiations should be held with an open mind, in all sincerity.
"Neither side should insist 'we alone will win and you will lose'. What is needed is a middle path, a win-win approach. This is what I personally believe and have conveyed to many people, including the (agitating) leaders: the negotiations should move forward gradually," he said.
Wangchuk said they were ready to adopt such an approach, but it should not be one-sided.
He said the protesters have conveyed this thinking to fair-minded people across the country, and cautioned that if the upcoming talks once again result in their concerns being overlooked and only the other side's position prevails, it would prompt questions on why a more accommodative approach -- like that adopted by Ladakh's leaders -- is not being followed.
The government has not yet announced the date for the next round of talks.
The Ladakh-based activist expressed hope that the ongoing protests would lead to a positive and amicable resolution, enabling them to move forward and partake in the country's progress and nation-building.
Asked about charges under the National Security Act (NSA) that were levelled against him, he said, "If a person like me, who has always worked for the country -- whether in education, environment, or improving facilities for the armed forces -- can face such allegations, then what might not be said about others, not just in Ladakh but elsewhere as well?"
The activist said he was disturbed by a video related to his arrest that he came across recently, questioning how such claims could be made, especially as the contents "appeared" to be backed by evidence.
"If the allegations are true, I did not deserve to be free. But if they are false, they must be clearly refuted," Wangchuk said, cautioning against making sweeping accusations about Ladakh, which has been a pillar of India's defence, especially Kargil, whose people have supported the armed forces in every war and made significant sacrifices in the 1999 Kargil War.
Making such allegations will only create distance among people, he said, adding, "If mistakes are being made, they should be corrected."
Referring to the Centre's order revoking NSA charges against him, he said it is clearly stated that this step is being taken to create a conducive environment, to build trust, and to enable meaningful dialogue.
"So, we are waiting for things to move in that direction," he said.
On the protesters' next course of action, he said the leadership will look into the issue, but it is hoped that the time ahead will not be for anything else but celebration.
"If there is any absolute need, we will discuss and decide what steps should be taken," he said.
On the possibility of him joining the team holding dialogue with the home ministry, Wangchuk said, "Whatever I do, I do it out of necessity. Where I am not needed, and others could do it, I always prefer that they should take the lead. But if there is a need, I will not back down."
VIDEO | Ladakh: Activist Sonam Wangchuk says, "... We need open-minded dialogue with Centre to find a win-win or middle path solution..."
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) April 5, 2026
(Full video available on PTI Videos - https://t.co/dv5TRAShcC) pic.twitter.com/BwWQGx66I1
