Congress chief Kharge to review Maha strategy with senior leaders July 11

AICC in charge of Maharashtra HK Patil told ETV Bharat on Sunday that the Congress was concerned that its ally NCP was being targeted by the BJP and said that the saffron party’s plan would rebound in the western state. -- Reports Amit Agnihotri.

New Delhi:Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge will review the fallout of the ongoing crisis in the NCP and will discuss the party’s strategy for the assembly and national polls in Maharashtra next year.

“The party chief has called senior leaders for a review of the current political situation in the state on July 11,” AICC in charge of Maharashtra HK Patil told ETV Bharat on Sunday. According to Patil, the Congress was concerned that its ally NCP was being targeted by the BJP and said that the saffron party’s plan would rebound in the western state.

“If one of our allies is being targeted, we are also concerned. The BJP made a wrong judgement in trying to break the Shiv Sena earlier and is repeating the same mistake with the NCP. The targeting of Sena gave its MLAs to the BJP but the people are supporting Uddhav Thackeray. Similarly, Ajit Pawar may take away some of the NCP MLAs but eventually, the people will support Sharad Pawar,” said Patil.

“The people of the state have not liked such coercion politics. They are with both Uddhav and Sharad Pawar. The BJP will repent what it is doing in Maharashtra just as it did in Karnataka,” he said. Kharge’s review meeting, said Patil, is to discuss the future roadmap for the Congress in Maharashtra including the leader of the opposition post as well as the Sena UBT, NCP and Congress alliance MVA.

“The MVA is intact. I recently attended a meeting of party MLAs in Mumbai to take stock of the developments. They were all excited to work for the party and congratulated each other. We will fight the coming polls together and will do well. Besides, we will also try to strengthen the party in the state. There is a lot of scope for the Congress to regain strength in the state. We won the Kasba Peth assembly by-poll in Pune in March,” Patil said.

“The BJP targeted the NCP as it was worried over the MVA prospects. The alliance will sweep the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra,” he said. The Congress veteran said the grand old party was united in the state. “They may be trying but they will not succeed,” Patil said when asked if the BJP was trying to dent the grand old party as well.

Party insiders said Kharge knows Maharashtra very well and has been in charge of the state. Hence, he is keeping a watch on the developments there. The Congress had a statewide presence, the actual game plan of the BJP was to dent the grand old party, which was still the most stable player among the opposition.

Further, the party insiders said that Sharad Pawar has started touring the state. Also, the fact that he is considered the tallest leader will generate sympathy among the voters and the situation will be different. The Sena MLAs who had gone with Shinde now want to come back as they are feeling uncomfortable in the ruling alliance. Plus, the insiders said that no Congress leader today sees value in going to the BJP whose stocks are set to go down over the coming days.