Congress picks Mallikarjun Kharge as next Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha

The post of the Leader of Opposition in the Upper House will fall vacant after the retirement of Ghulam Nabi Azad on February 15.

Congress on Friday nominated its senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge as the next Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha in place of Ghulam Nabi Azad. The development was confirmed by House chairperson and vice president M Venkaiah Naidu's office, which received a letter of nomination from the Congress party.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge speaks in the Lok Sabha in New Delhi. (File photo)

The post of the Leader of Opposition in the Upper House will fall vacant after the retirement of Azad on February 15.

Kharge, a Dalit politician from Karnataka, was the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019. Kharge will be the 17th Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha since December 1969.

The grand old party could not get the post of the leader of opposition in the previous and the current Lok Sabha as its numbers were less than the mandated 10 per cent of the total number of seats in the Lower House.

Azad was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Jammu and Kashmir in 2015. In his farewell speech on Tuesday, Azad said that he is proud to be an Indian Muslim. "I am among those fortunate people who never went to Pakistan. When I read about circumstances in Pakistan, I feel proud to be a Hindustani Muslim,” he said.

An emotional Prime Minister Narendra Modi had bid adieu to Azad, recalling his contribution to the country, the House and also his party. PM Modi also said that the person who will replace Azad as Leader of Opposition "will have difficulty matching his work because he was not only concerned about his party but also about the country and the House".

(With inputs from PTI)