New Delhi: Getting into poll mode, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge will chair two key meetings on March 19 to clear more candidates and firm up the party’s strategy for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls. “The Congress president has convened meetings of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and the Central Election Committee on March 19. We announced around 80 nominees so far and the CEC will clear more candidates on that day. The CWC will meet to approve the draft poll manifesto and will also firm up the broad strategy for the forthcoming national elections,” a senior AICC functionary said.
According to party insiders, the main focus of the Congress high command is on finalising the pending seat-sharing arrangements in Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir to be able to put up a single joint opposition candidate against the BJP in most parts of the country. In other states like Punjab, the grand old party is prepared to have a friendly fight with the ruling AAP. The Congress and AAP have a pre-poll pact in Delhi, Gujarat, Goa and Haryana.
“The INDIA bloc represents around 65 per cent of the total voters in the country. In the previous 2019 national elections, the opposition votes were divided, but the parties were united in 2024. I don’t want to guess the Congress numbers, but the INDIA bloc will do very well this time. There is a strong undercurrent in our favour,” CWC member Jagdish Thakor told ETV Bharat.
According to the CWC member, the pact with AAP in Gujarat, under which Congress will contest 24 and AAP two seats, would help the grand old party. In the 2019 national polls, the BJP had won all the 26 seats in Gujarat. “The Congress-AAP alliance is working on the ground. Our leaders are campaigning together and were seen in Bharuch recently when Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay yatra passed through Gujarat. The people are responding to the yatra in large numbers and this has made the BJP worried. Therefore, the BJP is trying to deflect public attention by claiming they will win 370 seats. The reality is the BJP will not get a majority this time. Hence, they are desperate to induct opposition leaders,” said Thakor, a former Gujarat unit chief.
According to party insiders, the seat-sharing arrangements in Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Jammu & Kashmir have been almost completed and will be announced soon. “The alliance in Maharashtra may be announced before the INDIA rally in Mumbai on Sunday. The remaining ones will be done over the coming days,” said a senior AICC functionary.
According to party insiders, the Congress is likely to get 9/40 seats in Bihar, 9/14 in Jharkhand, 20 in Maharashtra and three in Jammu & Kashmir. The party insiders further stated that the talks between Congress, Shiv Sena UBT and NCP Sharad Pawar Group have been completed, but the number of seats to be given to potential ally Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi of Prakash Ambedkar has been the sticking point over the past few days. “The Maha Vikas Aghadi is ready to give three or four seats to VBA, but Prakash Ambedkar has been pressing for six seats. That issue has delayed an announcement in Maharashtra,” said a senior Maharashtra Congress leader.
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