Bengaluru: Senior Congress leader B K Hariprasad formally assumed charge as Karnataka Congress president at a mega convention on Sunday.At the ceremony, Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who had served as Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president since 2020, formally handed over charge to Hariprasad by presenting him with the party flag.AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, Shivakumar, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala, ministers, legislators and party office-bearers attended the event.The 71-year-old MLC was appointed Karnataka Congress president on June 3, following Shivakumar's resignation as KPCC chief.An OBC leader from the Billava community, Hariprasad, was re-elected to the Karnataka Legislative Council on Thursday.He has previously served as a member of the Rajya Sabha and as the AICC in-charge of Haryana and several other states.The ruling party projected the event, held at Palace Grounds, as the beginning of its campaign for a series of upcoming elections, including those for the five city corporations under the Greater Bengaluru Authority, and zilla and taluk panchayats, leading up to the 2028 Assembly elections.After assuming charge, Hariprasad said what he had assumed was not power but a pious responsibility .He said the big challenge ahead of the party was the 2028 Assembly polls and the 2029 Lok Sabha polls.Targeting the BJP and the RSS, he said they were misusing constitutional bodies and trying to subvert democracy and the Constitution.He called them anti-Constitution and anti-democracy , while accusing them of snatching away the freedom of the people.