Rahul Gandhi calls for urgent meeting of Maharashtra Congress leaders

The Monday meeting in Delhi comes in the backdrop of the party’s defeat in Haryana Assembly elections and the recalibrating aspirations of its MVA allies over seat sharing and the Chief Minister post.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has called for an urgent meeting of top leaders of the Maharashtra Congress at 10 a.m. on Monday (October 14, 2024) in New Delhi. Those invited for the key meeting include Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Nana Patole, former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Mumbai Regional Congress Committee president Varsha Gaikwad, Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Vijay Waddettiwar and Congress Legislative Party leader Balasaheb Thorat.

With Maharashtra going to polls soon, the meeting assumes significance as Congress’s alliance partners in the State have started flexing muscles over seat-sharing and the Chief Minister post. The INDIA bloc partners had also pulled up the Congress for its defeat in the Haryana Assembly election.

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The State Congress leaders will fly down to Mumbai immediately after the meeting in Delhi to attend the co-ordinators’ meeting to be held in the State capital at 4 p.m.

“We have been asked to come to Delhi. This is likely to take stock of the situation in Maharashtra,” one of the leaders who has been invited for the meeting told The Hindu. “I am not aware of the agenda of the meeting,” said another.

Most of the invitees are part of the seat sharing discussion with alliance partners Shiv Sena(UBT) and Nationalist Congress Party(SP). The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has also put together a separate committee to discuss the seat sharing arrangement in Mumbai, where the aspirations of the Congress and Shiv Sena(UBT) are being recalibrated.

While the seat sharing talks are in the final stage, the Congress thinks its regional allies are trying to stake claim to seats in its traditional strongholds, with a few seats in the Vidarbha region being the point of contention.

Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena(UBT) has been vocal about pitching party chief Uddhav Thackeray as the Chief Minister candidate, much to the discomfort of the Congress, particularly after the Congress’s defeat in the Haryana Assembly election. The Shiv Sena(UBT) has also pulled up the Congress for its failure to come to power in Haryana. In party mouthpiece Saamana and through several statements, party leader Sanjay Raut has slammed the grand old party for side-lining allies and being overconfident.

“Congress collaborates with regional parties where it is weak, but when it considers itself strong, it neglects them,” Raut said recently. “In Haryana, Congress kept its INDIA bloc partners like AAP and others away. In this game, it lost the entire state. In Jammu and Kashmir, INDIA bloc won but in Haryana, Congress was left behind. This picture is not good for the INDIA bloc,” he said another day. He also blamed the Congress for its performance in Haryana saying, “No one thought the BJP government would be elected in Haryana again. It seems Congress’s overconfidence and the arrogance of local Congress leaders led to the party’s defeat.”

Even at the recent Dasara rally of Shiv Sena(UBT), a political event keenly watched to understand the party’s stance on several issues, Uddhav Thackeray was strongly pitched as the Chief Minister candidate.

In this backdrop of an ever-changing political weather in Maharashtra, it remains to be seen if the Congress’s Delhi meeting will help recalibrate the party’s strategy for the upcoming polls.

Published - October 13, 2024 10:09 pm IST