Cong calls meet on upcoming state polls; former PK aide to be present

After its electoral success in Karnataka, the Congress will hold two-day deliberations starting Friday on its preparedness and poll prospects in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, two of which are held by the party currently.

Sources said while the Congress units of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan will hold separate discussions on May 26 on their preparations and actions to be taken, the party will also hold strategy meets on Chhattisgarh on May 27.

Buoyed by its poll victory in Karnataka, the Congress has started preparing for the next round of Assembly elections in the three states, with party chief Mallikarjun Kharge taking the lead.

Poll strategist and former associate of Prashant Kishor Sunil Kanugolu will be part of the deliberations with the state leaders to strategise the party's preparedness for the next round of Assembly elections.

While Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are ruled by the Congress, where it is hoping to offset the anti-incumbency factor and factional fighting by replicating the 'Karnataka strategy', the party is also determined to make a comeback in Madhya Pradesh, where it lost power after Jyotiraditya Scindia and some of the MLAs switched loyalties to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Assembly elections in five states -- Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram -- are due by the year-end and the Congress is leaving nothing to chance this time.

The stunning victory of the party in the Karnataka polls earlier this month has helped motivate the Congress cadre at the grassroots level, who are going all out to stage another victory for the party.

The sources said the strategy meetings for Telangana and Mizoram will be held later.

Kharge will hold separate meetings with the party leaders from these states at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters.

The chief ministers of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the state unit chiefs or in-charges and senior leaders from the respective states are expected to take part in the meetings.

The success of the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', which passed through Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, and its effect in these states are also likely to be discussed in these meetings.

The Congress faces peculiar challenges in several of these states, especially due to infighting and factionalism.

In Rajasthan, it has to tackle a festering feud between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot.

Upping the ante, Pilot has given an ultimatum to the party and threatened to launch a state-wide agitation if his demands are not met by May-end.

Concluding his five-day 'Jan Sangharsh Yatra' in Jaipur, during which he targeted the Gehlot government on the issue of corruption, Pilot recently placed three demands -- disbanding the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) and its reorganisation, compensation to the youngsters affected by the government exam paper leak and a high-level inquiry into corruption allegations against the previous Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government in the state.

There is also an open fight between Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and state minister T S SinghDeo, who has been staking a claim to the top post.

In Madhya Pradesh too, there is factionalism between Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh while in Telangana, state Congress chief Revanth Reddy faces infighting from state leaders who consider him an outsider.

In Karnataka, the party gave five guarantees to people and the politics of freebies also seems to have worked in its favour.

The Congress is likely to carry this freebie policy forward in other poll-bound states after its success in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka.

The party is in a direct contest with the BJP in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, even though there is a triangular fight in Telangana among the Congress, the BJP and the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS).