New Delhi: After ensuring the party's victory in his home state Karnataka, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has set his eyes on preparing a roadmap for Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana where assembly polls will take place later this year. “The Congress chief will review preparations in the poll-bound states on May 24 and 25. AICC in charges of these states, along with senior state leaders, will attend the review meetings. Kharge wants the state teams to prepare a roadmap for the ensuing polls and plug the organisational gaps at the earliest,” a senior AICC functionary told ETV Bharat.
According to party insiders, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who campaigned extensively in Karnataka, would also attend the strategy sessions for the poll-bound states. “The top leaders will discuss a plan of action for the poll-bound states, which will be rolled out gradually, just like we did in Karnataka,” said the AICC functionary.
Out of the four, the Congress will have a direct fight with the BJP in MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. In Telangana, the Congress fights with the BRS. According to party insiders, the challenge for Kharge is to retain power in party-ruled Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and wrest MP back from the BJP, which allegedly toppled the Congress government in 2020.
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“Just like in Karnataka, the party is united in Madhya Pradesh also. Former Chief Minister Kamal Nath is being projected as the face of the party and all the senior leaders are supporting him. This unity is sending a strong signal among the voters,” AICC secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh Kuldeep Indora told ETV Bharat.
“Right now, we are busy conducting mandal and sector-level worker meetings in our respective areas. We hope to wrap up these meetings soon. Senior state leaders like Digvijay Singh, Suresh Pachauri, Arun Yadav and Ajay Singh are also conducting similar meetings in different parts of the state,” he said. According to AICC secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh CP Mittal, “Madhya Pradesh is the only state in the country where the party has been able to set up the highest percentage (70 per cent) mandal level teams. These local teams play an important part during the elections.”
Kuldeep Indora, who belongs to Rajasthan, expressed the hope that the Gehlot vs Pilot power tussle in the state would be resolved soon and that the Congress would be able to break the trend of government change every five years this time. “The sense that I gather from the locals is that the people are in a mood to repeat the Congress government in Rajasthan, but we need to present a united picture,” he said.
According to Indora, the recent five-day 'Jan Sangharsh Yatra' taken out by Sachin Pilot, which was seen by many in the party as an affront to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, was against the issue of corruption, which the Congress, too, has been raising for long. “The Rajasthan government has implemented the welfare schemes very well and the voters are liking it. The party issues will be resolved in the coming days. Our government in Chhattisgarh too has done much for public welfare,” he said.
