Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Wednesday met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi to prepare for the the upcoming Assembly elections in the state, which the JMM-Congress have decided to contest in an alliance.
The meeting was held at Congress president Kharge’s residence. Soren’s wife Kalpana Soren and Congress general secretary, in-charge organisation, K C Venugopal, were also present in the meeting.
The Congress-JMM meeting comes a day after the grand old party faced a shocking defeat in the Haryana Assembly elections and talks of hard bargain by INDIA bloc allies with the Congress in the upcoming Maharashtra and Jharkhand polls.
“Today in New Delhi, I met Congress President respected Shri @kharge ji and senior Congress leader Shri @RahulGandhi ji and discussed various issues related to the state,” Soren said on X, sharing photographs from the meeting with the Congress leaders.
आज नई दिल्ली में कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष आदरणीय श्री @kharge जी और कांग्रेस के वरिष्ठ नेता श्री @RahulGandhi जी से मुलाकात हुई एवं राज्य से जुड़े विभिन्न विषयों पर चर्चा हुई। pic.twitter.com/IVvHOH48Ym
— Hemant Soren (@HemantSorenJMM) October 9, 2024
During the meeting, the alliance discussed about the preparations for the upcoming Assembly elections. Both the Congress and the JMM are looking to arrive at a seat-sharing deal at the earliest and begin campaigning for the polls, news agency PTI said citing sources.
JMM, Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal, and Left parties are looking to retain power in the state, while the BJP is set to launch an aggressive poll campaign and wrest power in Jharkhand.
Folling Congress’s setback in Haryana, a few opposition INDIA bloc parties have accused the grand old party of ignoring them and being overconfident. They also stressed that this attitude should not be repeated in upcoming polls.
Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) lashed out at the Congress, accusing it of ignoring other parties, and stating this as the reason behind the poll debacle.
Leaders of the AAP, TMC, CPI(M), CPI are among some of the other parties that blamed the Congress for working alone and not in alliance with the INDIA bloc partners, which according to them led to the defeat in Haryana.
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