The Congress on Tuesday held a key meeting of its leaders from Maharashtra to evolve the party's strategy for the upcoming assembly elections in the state, with party chief Mallikarjun Kharge saying the country is now looking towards change and Maharashtra has given a clear message of this in the Lok Sabha elections.
The Maharashtra Assembly elections are slated later this year and the Congress is expecting to do well and oust the BJP-NCP-Shiv Sena Mahayuti combine out of power.
The Congress, which had contested the Lok Sabha elections jointly with the Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharad Pawar) under the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, is buoyed with its performance where it won 13 seats out of 17 that it had contested as part of the tie-up.
Similar sessions for the poll-bound states of Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir would also be held this week. The party has already held consultations with its leaders from Jharkhand, where the assembly elections are also due later this year.
Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi were part of the deliberations with the leaders from Maharashtra. AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal and Maharashtra PCC chief Nana Patole were also present during the discussions besides AICC in-charge for Maharashtra Ramesh Chennithala.
"The country is now looking towards change. Maharashtra has given a clear message of this. We have to start preparing for the elections. This is our biggest responsibility. Today the leaders of Maharashtra Congress discussed the strategy for the upcoming assembly elections," Kharge said after the meeting.
"In Maharashtra, we fought the Lok Sabha elections in completely adverse circumstances. I congratulate every leader and worker of Maharashtra Congress for the good performance of the party, I congratulate the booth agents and we thank the people of Maharashtra," he added.
Kharge said the "Congress had made Maharashtra the most prosperous and developed state of the country".
"But the BJP government has destroyed the industries and pushed the people into the vicious circle of unemployment and inflation. Farmers have been subjected to most injustice," he added.
Venugopal said the "Congress has deep roots in every part of the state and all our leaders will work unitedly to ensure a decisive victory for the MVA in the assembly elections".
"After a historic performance in the Lok Sabha, where the INC secured the most seats in the state, we are determined to further improve our performance and dethrone the illegitimately formed NDA government in Maharashtra," he said.
The Congress' strategy meet for Haryana would take place on Wednesday. For Jammu and Kashmir, where the election is yet to be declared, the strategy meeting would be held on Thursday.
The Congress leadership has planned the meetings well in advance after being buoyed by the party's performance in the recently-held Lok Sabha polls.
The assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand are slated later this year.
The tenure of the Maharashtra Assembly ends on November 26, while that of the Haryana Assembly ends on November 3. The tenure of the Jharkhand Assembly ends on January 5, 2025.
The Supreme Court has said the election in Jammu and Kashmir should be held before September 30.
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