Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will launch a statewide programme, Hath se hath jodo, meant for strengthening the party’s organisation in Jharkhand at Pakur on Saturday.

“We will begin our programme from a corner in the northern region that will continue across the state for the next two months for consolidating our party’s organisational set-up, right from booth level,” state congress president Rajesh Thakur informed when contacted, adding that they also had plans to organise a concluding programme with the Congress president somewhere else, perhaps in Ranchi, at the end.

The Congress focused on the Santhal Pargana region after the JMM organised a massive midnight rally in Dumka to observe its foundation day on February 2 and Union home minister Amit Shah addressed a public meeting at Deoghar last Saturday.

Some observers also felt that the Congress leaders planned to begin their programme from Santhal Pargana apprehending erosion in their party’s support base in that region.

“It’s not that,” Thakur said, reminding that the Congress, as part of the ruling alliance, had fielded 4 candidates in the last Assembly elections in 2019 and won all and was expecting to retain its support base intact.

“But it is natural for the party to consolidate its support base, not only in Santhal Pargana but in the whole of the state,” he added.

The Congress candidates had won Pakur, Mahagama, Jarmundi and Jamtara Assembly seats from the region and Pradip Yadav who had won the Poreyahat seat as a candidate of the now-defunct JVM(P) also joined the party later.

“We will also review the formation and functioning of the party’s committees at the block level across the state during the programme,” Thakur further said, adding they expected the programme would help them renew their contact with the people at the grassroots level.

Kharge will, however, not visit Ramgarh where the party has fielded Bajrang Mahto who is also the consensus candidate of the ruling JMM-Congress-RJD combine in the byelection that became necessary after the disqualification of the sitting MLA and Mahto’s wife, Mamta Devi, following her imprisonment in a case.

“The voters know well how the previous BJP government had implicated Mamta Devi when she was participating in a public protest that resulted in her imprisonment, “ Thakur further said.