Mallikarjun Kharge, a Gandhi loyalist, aims to lead fightback against Narendra Modi’s BJP

India’s Congress party has appointed its first president in 24 years not from the Gandhi dynasty, in an effort to reverse its apparent decline and take on the seemingly invincible Narendra Modi.

Mallikarjun Kharge, 80, a loyalist in the court of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty which rules the party, defeated the rival candidate Shashi Tharoor by almost 7,000 votes in a poll of 9,000 party delegates.