In a veiled dig at the Congress party, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Tuesday said that senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge was not given enough recognition for his work by his party.

Kumaraswamy opined that Kharge should have been made a Chief Minister long time ago.

"Mallikarjun Kharge should have become the Chief Minister long ago. I feel that injustice has happened with him. I would like to clearly state that, even I feel that, Kharge has not been given recognition for all the work he has done," the Chief Minister said while addressing a public rally here.

Kharge is a two-time Lok Sabha MP from Gulbarga constituency in Karnataka and is a leader of Congress in Lok Sabha. He had also served as a cabinet minister in the Karnataka Government.

Kumaraswamy was addressing the rally in support of Congress byelection candidate Subhash Rathod from Chincholi assembly seat which will go to polls on May 19.