At the age of seven, he had to flee from his village Varavatti in Bhalki taluk of Bidar district in Karnataka with his father, as a result of the atrocities committed by the private army of the Nizam of Hyderabad. As a little boy, he was returning home from the field where his father was an agricultural labourer, when he saw his house on fire. He lost his mother and sister in the tragic accident.
Newly-appointed Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun M Kharge's life has been one of struggle, and his climb in politics was on the foundation of “loyalty and sincerity” to the Gandhi family and Congress, from former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to AICC president Sonia Gandhi. The go-to-man of the Congress party during crises, Kharge comes across as one who can stonewall information, has a wry sense of humour and one known to not breach confidences.
Sharing the political limelight with late former Chief Minister N Dharam Singh as the two Congress giants or “political twins” from Hyderabad-Karnataka district, Kharge has been a Chief Minister in-waiting every time a Congress government came to power in Karnataka after the mid-80s, but only ended up holding key portfolios in all Congress ruled regimes from D Devaraj's tenure instead. In 2004, he missed the post and Singh bagged it under the Congress-JD(S) alliance as the latter was considered appropriate for a coalition government. But Kharge's biggest disappointment in missing the post was in 2013, when the party decided to have an election for the Congress Legislature Party leader as there were too many heavyweights vying for it and Siddaramaiah emerged the winner.
According to political observers, Kharge's political growth in Karnataka as a Congressman representing the Scheduled Castes was not smooth as politics in the state is dominated by the Lingayats and Vokkaligas. But the spirit to take on his rivals was evident when he was the legal advisor to MSK mills in Kalaburagi and trade union leader of Samyukta Mazdoor Sangh in 1969, also the year he joined the Congress and headed the party's Kalaburagi city unit.
Gurmitkal, a reserved constituency in Kalaburagi district, gave Kharge his entry into electoral politics in 1972, which he represented successively till 2008, when Karnataka went in for delimitation of constituencies and many political stalwarts lost their Assembly segments. A teary Kharge bid farewell to Gurmitkal which became unreserved and opted for Chitapur, a constituency now represented by his son and former minister Priyank Kharge.
In 2009, the Congress high command was looking for “winnable” candidates for the Lok Sabha polls as the BJP was consolidating its position in Karnataka and both Kharge and Singh were given tickets from Kalaburagi and Bidar respectively. His title of “Solillada Saradara (leader without a defeat) having won nine Assembly elections and two Lok Sabha polls slipped, when he lost the Kalaburagi Parliamentary seat in 2019. Dissidence among local Congress leaders who were upset over Kharge promoting his son and inducting him into the Siddaramaiah cabinet was said to be the reason with his close confidantes like Mallikaiah V Guttedar, Baburao Chinchansur and present BJP MP from Kalaburagi Umesh V Jadhav deserting him.
But his role as floor leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019 brought him closer to the Gandhis and he was given the responsibility of Maharashtra in 2018. It surprised many as Kharge was then the floor leader and also heading the Public Accounts Committee.
While some in the state Congress maintain that Kharge got the posts and postions due to his seniority and being a Dalit, the other view is that his loyalty to the party and the Gandhi family, who are sticklers for the two traits, earned him the rewards.
His son Priyank attributed his father's “quest for equity, no compromise on ideology and always punching above his weight” for getting him where he is today.