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NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge will be replacing Ghulam Nabi Azad as the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha.
The outgoing Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Nabi Azad is set to retire on February 15.
Ghulam Nabi Azad became a Rajya Sabha member in 1990 from Maharashtra but in 1996, shifted to his home state, Jammu and Kashmir — which became a Union Territory in 2019.
Azad represented it from 1996 to 2006, resigning mid-way as he became the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
Ghulam Nabi Azad again became the Rajya Sabha MP from Jammu and Kashmir in 2009 and has been a member since then.
Meanwhile, the Congress party has written to the chairman of the Upper House of Parliament for appointing Kharge to the post of leader of the opposition after Azad's retirement
Kharge, a Dalit leader from Karnataka, was the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019.
Earlier on February 9, Prime Minister Narendra Modi while speaking in the Rajya Sabha got emotional as he bid farewell to Congress Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Nabi Azad on February 9.
PM Modi speaking on the occasion called Azad a "true friend," Modi said the Congress leader had "has set very high standards as MP and Opposition leader." "Posts come, the high office comes, power comes and how to handle these, one must learn from Ghulam Nabi Azad Ji. I would consider him a true friend,"
Recalling an old incident PM Modi said, "I will never forget Shri Azad's efforts and Shri Pranab Mukherjee's efforts when people from Gujarat were stuck in Kashmir due to a terror attack.
Ghulam Nabi Ji was constantly following up, he sounded as concerned as if those stuck were his own family members." Modi also said that post the retirement of Azad, and it will be very difficult for the next person to match the standard of the later.