Bengaluru, 6 June

Congress Rajya Sabha candidate from Karnataka and AICC Secretary in-charge of Kerala and Lakshadweep Mansoor Ali Khan, is poised to continue his father, veteran partyman and former deputy chairman of the Parliament's Upper House K Rahman Khan's legacy. 

Khan is among the three candidates besides AICC President Mallikarjun M Kharge and AICC media and publicity wing chairman Pawan Khera contesting the Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka. The Congress High Command is said to have recognised his work during the Kerala Assembly polls, which resulted in the party led United Democratic Front (UDF) collectively winning 102 seats of the total 140 Assembly seats with the Congress securing 63 seats. Of the 48 seats in the North Zone, also called the Malabar region in Kerala, the Congress won 40 seats. 

Khan was earlier AICC secretary in charge of Telangana, when the Congress won 64 of the 119 Assembly seats in 2023. This was the Congress first victory after the formation of state in 2014. 

The Rajya Sabha ticket was also to compensate for the opportunities that Khan missed in the past of getting elected to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and the Karnataka Legislative Council. 

In 2022, his name was finalised for a Council seat from the Assembly which went to Congress MLC K Abdul Jabbar at the last minute. A month later, the Congress fielded Khan as the second candidate for the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha aware of the fact that it did not have the requisite numbers to get him elected with the JD(S) not supporting the Congress. Khan lost the election. Later, his name was among those nominated to the Council and was replaced by actor Umashree.

The most challenging part in 54-year-old Mansoor Ali Khan’s political career was contesting the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha seat in 2024. The constituency for the first time witnessed a high voltage contest between BJP's PC Mohan and Khan. He gave a tough fight to Mohan, a three term MP who was facing anti-incumbency and reduced the latter's victory margin to 32,707. Bengaluru Central also became the first case study for the Congress to launch an attack on the Election Commission of India of facilitating alleged widespread electoral malpractices, popularly called `vote chori.'

Besides his political pursuits, Khan is an educator. He has been instrumental in the management and growth of reputed schools such as Delhi Public Schools and the School of India. Additionally, he is actively affiliated with several key organisations, including the Karnataka Federation of Independent Schools Management (KFISM), the Management of Independent CBSE Schools Association – Karnataka (MICSA-K), and FICCI ARISE, where he has contributed to shaping educational policies and corporate partnerships.

His father Rahman Khan was a Rajya Sabha member for four terms. Earlier, Rahman Khan served as the Karnataka Legislative Council chairman and was appointed to head the Karnataka State Minorities Commission. During his tenure as the Commission's chairman, he pioneered the first socio-economic status study of the minorities in Karnataka. The survey's findings resulted in the Karnataka government providing 4 per cent reservation for minorities in education and government employment.

After filing his nomination papers on Saturday, Khan in a tweet on X said: "This is a big responsibility, and I don’t take it lightly. I’m grateful to the Congress leadership for their trust, and to the countless party workers, colleagues, and citizens who have stood with me along the way. I will work hard to serve Karnataka and the nation."