New Delhi, 29 June (H.S.): Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has once again been recognised as the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha following his re-election from Karnataka. According to a parliamentary bulletin issued by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat on Monday, Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President C.P. Radhakrishnan has recognised Kharge as the Leader of the Opposition in the House with effect from June 26, 2026.

The parliamentary bulletin stated that Kharge's previous Rajya Sabha term ended on June 25, following which his recognition as the Leader of the Opposition also ceased. After being re-elected to the Upper House from Karnataka, he has now been formally recognised for the new term.

Earlier on Monday, Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan administered the oath of office to Kharge as a Member of the Rajya Sabha at the Chairman's Chamber in Parliament House. The ceremony was attended by Leader of the House and Union Health and Family Welfare Minister J.P. Nadda, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and several senior leaders from different political parties.

The 83-year-old Kharge first entered the Rajya Sabha in 2020 and has now been elected to the Upper House from Karnataka for a second consecutive term.

Kharge has had a political career spanning more than five decades. He entered active politics after winning his first Karnataka Assembly election in 1972 and was subsequently elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for nine consecutive terms. During his long political career, he held several key ministerial portfolios in the Karnataka Government and also served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.

At the national level, Kharge was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Gulbarga constituency in 2009 and again in 2014. During the second term of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, he served as Union Minister for Railways and Union Minister for Labour and Employment. He was the Leader of the Congress Party in the Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019 and was elected President of the Indian National Congress in October 2022.

The recent Rajya Sabha elections for 27 seats across 10 states have also altered the political composition of the Upper House. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) now has a strength of around 152 members, while the opposition INDIA bloc has approximately 64 members.

A two-thirds majority in the Rajya Sabha requires the support of 163 members. The House also includes five members from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and seven members from the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP). Although neither party is formally part of any national alliance, both have extended support to the Central Government on several important Bills and parliamentary matters in the past.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar