Congress leadership warns cadre against any infighting in Maharashtra

After the recent poll debacle in Haryana ndash blamed partially on factional fighting ndash the Congress is attempting to put its house in order and present a united face in both Maharashtra and Jharkhand where it seeks to win in alliance with its other Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance INDIA bloc partners news agency PTI reportedThe Congress leadership does not want to take chances and has issued a stern warning to all its state leaders not to speak anything in public either against their party colleagues or any of the allies ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly electionsDuring an internal meeting Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi have told party leaders in Maharashtra to refrain from making any such public statements and warned of stern action in case of any violationThe seatsharing talks between the three alliance partners of the INDIA bloc ndash Congress Nationalist Congress Party Sharadchandra Pawar and Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray ndash are on and sources said 80 per cent of the seats have been finalised while deliberations are on for the remaining ones reported PTISources said the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA alliance partners are going on a seattoseat basis to choose a chief ministerial candidate from that wins the most number of seatsHowever the issue remains a sticky one The Congress feels it has the right to the top post considering it is the largest party in the opposition in the state assembly currently and its leaders are dropping hints that they are in the raceParty upbeat by MVAs performance in Lok Sabha pollsDespite the setback in Haryana Assembly polls the party unit is upbeat in Maharashtra owing to MVAs performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections reported PTIThe party on Tuesday appointed divisionwise All India Congress Committee AICC senior observers for the Maharashtra Assembly polls with Ashok Gehlot and G Parameshwara to look after the Mumbai and Konkan region and Sachin Pilot and Uttam Kumar Reddy to oversee Marathwada Bhupesh Baghel Charanjit Singh Channi and Umang Singhar will look after the Vidarbha region Amravati and Nagpur and TS Singhdeo and M B Patil will take care of western Maharashtra Syed Naseer Hussain and D Anasuya Seethakka have been appointed as senior observers for North Maharashtra the party saidMukul Wasnik and Avinash Pande have been appointed as Maharashtra state election senior coordinatorsThe Congress is also likely to announce its guarantees in Maharashtra to counter the BJPled allianceMVA had won 31 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 general elections while the Congress only won five out of 10 seats in Haryana In the 2019 Assembly polls the party had won 44 seats in Maharashtra but seven MLAs have resigned from the party since thenWe are upbeat by MVAs performance in the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra and hope to win the state assembly this time Our strike rate is much better and we will form our government a senior Congress leader claimedParty is banking on support from JMM in JharkhandThe Congress currently has 37 MLAs Shiv Sena UBT 16 and NCP SP 12 besides two for Samajwadi Party SP one each for CPIM and Peasants and Workers Party in the Maharashtra assemblyIn Jharkhand the party is banking on the support of its alliance partner Jharkhand Mukti Morcha JMM which romped home last time and is seeking to retain powerThe Congress will supplement the efforts of JMM and Chief Minister Hemant Soren who hopes to cash in on public sympathy over his arrest and judicial custody in a corruption caseAs the Congress gets battleready for the next round of assembly polls the opposition party also appointed three AICC senior observers for Jharkhand assembly elections Tariq Anwar Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Bhatti Vikramarka MalluSoon after the announcement of assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand Congress president Kharge targeted the BJP on inflation and alleged that in the last 10 and a half years Modiji has not helped in any let up of BJPs loot even for 10 and a half secondsThe politics of diversion will not work any longer The public will vote on the basic issues Kharge also saidThe Assembly polls in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase on November 20 while Jharkhand polls will be held in two phases on November 13 and 20 the Election Commission announced on TuesdayThe votes for the two states will be counted on November 23There are 963 crore eligible voters in Maharashtra while the number of eligible voters in Jharkhand is 26 crore Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said at a press conferenceWith PTI inputs