While the Congress continues to dither on resolving the Karnataka imbroglio over the leadership issue, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge has stoked a new debate by saying that the High Command would take the final call on this matter.

Kharge is not known for being politically suave or for using the right words to express himself. But no one expected that he would let the cat out of the bag in public by using the expression High Command. If the Congress president is not the High Command, then who else is?

Kharge has been in the saddle as Congress president for over three years now. He is honest enough to keep reminding all and sundry that he got the post more as a gift than on his competence to run and revive the party. It is debatable if Kharge would have been elected at all if he was not perceived as the candidate of the Gandhi family in his fight against Shashi Tharoor for the top post. A seasoned politician that Kharge is, he has not forgotten the key fact that the Gandhis failed to maintain neutrality, which tilted the balance in his favour. The use of High Command was thus a natural expression of being obliged to the Gandhis for the gift of his life.

Kharge is probably the first........

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