Congress will win 150 seats in Madhya Pradesh, says Rahul Gandhi

Party president Mallikarjun Kharge has convened a meeting of leaders from poll-bound States of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge with party leaders Rahul Gandhi and K.C. Venugopal chairs a meeting with the leaders from Madhya Pradesh, in New Delhi, on May 29, 2023. | Photo Credit: PTI

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on May 29 said that the Congress will repeat its Karnataka poll performance and win 150 seats for the next leg of Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, slated for later this year.

Party president Mallikarjun Kharge has convened a meeting of leaders from poll-bound States of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Top Congress leaders from Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh were present.

“We had a lengthy discussion. It is our internal assessment that we got 136 in Karnataka. In Madhya Pradesh we are going to get 150 seats. What we did in Karnataka we are going to repeat that (in Madhya Pradesh),” Mr. Gandhi said after the meeting.

AICC in-charge P. Aggarwal said all leaders gave their inputs for the upcoming Assembly elections.

Mr. Nath said, “We all discussed the strategy and the issues on which the party should contest these polls. We are all of the opinion that we will enter the poll fray unitedly”.

Asked if it would give guarantees like it did in Karnataka, Mr. Nath said a beginning has been made in Madhya Pradesh with the ‘Nari Samman Yojna’.

“We have done some and some will be announced in the future. We can’t fire all the bullets in one go,” he added.

Rajasthan meet

Seeking to resolve the infighting in Rajasthan Congress, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his bete noire Sachin Pilot on Monday met Mr. Kharge in the presence of Mr. Gandhi.

Sources said while Mr. Gehlot met Mr. Kharge at his residence at around 6 p.m., Mr. Gandhi joined them a few minutes later. The Congress chief and Mr. Gandhi held deliberations with Mr. Gehlot for about half an hour, after which party’s in-charge for Rajasthan Sukhjinder Randhawa was called in. Mr. Pilot, who has been attacking the Gehlot government over the issue of inaction on corruption during the previous BJP government led by Vasundhara Raje, joined the meeting after two hours. This is the first time after a long gap that the Rajasthan Chief Minister and his former deputy are meeting face to face in the presence of top party leadership.

(With PTI inputs)