Congress high command meets leaders from Bihar, J-K, Ladakh, Punjab to discuss strategy for Lok Sabha polls

PTI

New Delhi, December 26

The Congress high command held a series of meetings with party leaders from Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Punjab on Tuesday to discuss the strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal and along with other central leaders met the delegations from the states and Union Territories.

Around 40 leaders of the Congress’ Bihar unit, including its chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh and newly appointed state in-charge Mohan Prakash, attended the meeting with the party’s central leadership.

Talking to media after the meeting, the Bihar Congress chief said the RJD-JDU-Congress-Left alliance will fight the Lok Sabha polls together, and a final decision on seat sharing will be taken in the meeting of the alliance committee of Congress which is scheduled for December 29.

“We held detailed discussions on the preparations for the Lok Sabha elections. We have made an action plan which will be taken forward. The discussion on seats will be held in the alliance committee meeting on December 29,” he said.

The Congress fought on nine seats in Bihar in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Asked how many seats the Congress would fight on this time, Singh said they would be flexible in seat sharing. “One or two seats may go here or there... It is not a problem. Last time we fought in alliance with RJD and Left parties. This time JD(U) is also there,” he said.

Earlier, in a post on X, Kharge said, “The Grand Alliance government in Bihar is working firmly as per the expectations of the people of Bihar. We are committed to social justice. For the progress, prosperity and peace of Bihar, every Congress worker is ready to reach out to the people and live up to the aspirations of the people of Bihar.”

In 2019, out of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, the RJD was given 20, the Congress got nine, the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) fought on five, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Hum) and VIP fought three each and CPI-ML got one seat from the RJD quota.

The Congress had won one seat, while the JD(U), which was in alliance with BJP at that time, won 16. The BJP won 17 seats, and the Lok Janshakti Party six.

The party’s high command also held a meeting with leaders from Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Jammu and Kashmir has five Lok Sabha seats, and Ladakh has one.

After the meeting, the Congress’ Jammu and Kashmir in-charge said they discussed ways to strengthen the party in the Union territory, and the strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as well as the Assembly polls, whenever they are held.

“We will win all five seats in Jammu and Kashmir and one in Ladakh, there is no doubt about it. Rahul Gandhi said Jammu and Kashmir is the most important state. While the Congress is trying to unite it, the BJP is trying to divide it,” Solanki said.

The Congress high command also held a meeting with leaders from Punjab.

Rahul Gandhi shared photos of the meetings on his WhatsApp channel and said several important issues were discussed.

Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi along with West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury met former leader of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha Binay Tamang and ex-Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chetri.

The meetings come as the INDIA bloc parties in their meeting held last week decided to conclude seat-sharing agreements soon.

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