Congress leaders are still insisting that the election defeat will not affect the party’s bargaining power
New Delhi: Even though the Congress may have lost the recent assembly elections in the three Hindi-speaking states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, party leaders say the defeat has dented the grand old party’s prospects and bargaining power for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Has not been affected. India group.
According to a senior party leader on the condition of anonymity, “The results of the three states are undoubtedly disappointing but it does not prove that the Congress has been wiped out.”
He said that Congress still remains the main force against BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and the oldest party has a presence in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan where regional parties have no hold.
When reminded that the Congress is in power only in Himachal Pradesh in north India and in Jharkhand and Bihar it is in alliance with regional allies, the party leader said, “There is no doubt that we will have to contest elections in the states of Bihar and Bihar.” Is.” Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh are in alliance because regional parties like Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Samajwadi Party are strong there.
A party source also echoed the leader’s sentiments and said, “We have to accept the ground reality that regional parties are strong in these states and the Congress needs to get their support.”
However, the source said that after Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, Congress has presence in all other states and is the main rival especially in Punjab, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. BJP.
The source said that the party presents a direct threat to the BJP in North India and will definitely challenge it.
The source said that when seat-sharing talks for states in the India block begin, the results of the recent assembly elections will have no impact on the bargaining power of the grand old party.
Meanwhile, another party leader said that it will not be easy to deal with AAP and Samajwadi Party considering the sour relations in the last few months.
The party leader said that AAP, which is in power in Delhi and Punjab, will have to create a consensus on the seats in these two states.
The leader said that in Punjab, Congress has been the main party against AAP, while in Delhi, apart from AAP, it also has to face BJP which had won all the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital.
The party leader further said that all issues will be discussed between the alliance partners during the seat sharing talks.
On Wednesday evening, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge chaired a meeting with India Block floor leaders and it was decided to call the next meeting of the alliance in the third week of December to chalk out the 2024 strategy and begin seat-sharing talks .
After the third meeting of the India Bloc in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1, it announced that it will form a 14-member coordination committee and a 19-member election strategy committee to take on the BJP in the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The 14-member coordination committee of the India Bloc includes Congress’s KC Venugopal, NCP’s Sharad Pawar, DMK’s TR Baalu, JMM’s Hemant Soren, Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, Trinamool Congress’s Abhishek Banerjee, AAP’s Bhojpuri Congress and AAP’s Rajiv Gandhi. Raghav Chadha, Samajwadi Party’s Javed Ali Khan, JDU’s Lallan Singh, CPI’s D Raja, National Conference’s Omar Abdullah and PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti. CPI (M) will name its party leader for the committee later.
The campaign committee of the alliance includes Congress’s Gurdeep Singh Sappal, JDU’s Sanjay Jha, Shiv Sena’s Anil Desai, RJD’s Sanjay Yadav, NCP’s PC Chacko, JMM’s Champai Soren, Samajwadi Party’s Kiranmoy Nanda, AAP’s Sanjay. Singh, CPI(M)’s Arun Kumar, CPI’s Binoy Vishwam, National Conference’s Justice (retd) Hasnain Masoodi, RLD’s Shahid Siddiqui, RSP’s NK Premachandran, AIFB’s G Devarajan, CPI-ML’s Ravi Rai, VCK’s Thirumavalavan. , KM Kader Moideen of IUML, Jose K Mani of KC(M) are its members. TMC has not yet given any name for the panel.
