Newly elected Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge will formally take over on Wednesday. Hectic preparations were underway at the Congress headquarters for the ceremony where party president Sonia Gandhi will hand over the baton to her successor, Mallikarjun Kharge, the first non-Gandhi to head the outfit in 24 years.
Kharge defeated Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor in a direct contest for the top post in the grand old party after the Gandhis opted out of the race.
Ahead of his taking over, Kharge called on former prime minister Manmohan Singh at his residence and spent some time with him.
On Wednesday morning Kharge will pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat and also visit memorials of former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, besides former deputy prime minister Jagjivan Ram.