Palpable anger against BJP, allies; confident of victory in upcoming polls: Cong

New Delhi, Aug 19 (PTI) Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi met general secretaries, in-charges and screening committee members of four poll-bound states, with the party asserting it is "fully geared up" for the upcoming elections.

After the meeting, Congress general secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal said the leaders deliberated upon preparation for elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Jharkhand, and Maharashtra, and guidelines for selecting candidates.

He said the Central Election Committee meeting for Jammu and Kashmir would take place in the next three-four days. Venugopal also said the party was open for an alliance in Jammu and Kashmir and its main objective was to keep the BJP out of government.

"Today, we discussed the election preparation for four states in the presence of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and LoP (Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha) Rahul Gandhi. We talked about candidate selection, election preparation, and the guidelines for selecting candidates," Venugopal said.

Congress general secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir said the Congress has already stated that in Jammu and Kashmir it's ready to form an alliance with all the parties that are like-minded and are ready to stand against the BJP's policies.

While elections will take place in Jammu and Kashmir, and Haryana over September and October, Maharashtra and Jharkhand are set to go to polls later this year.

The three-phase elections to the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir assembly will be held on September 18, September 25 and October 1. The Election Commission has also announced that elections to the 90-member Haryana assembly will be held on October 1 and results for both the polls will be declared on October 4.

Besides Kharge, Gandhi and Venugopal, the members of screening committees for Haryana, J&K, Maharashtra and Jharkhand were also present during the meeting at the AICC headquarters here.

"INC President Sh. Mallikarjun Kharge ji and LOP Sh. Rahul Gandhi ji held an important meeting with the General Secretaries, In-Charges and Screening Committee Members of the four election-going states at AICC HQ," Venugopal said on X.

"We are fully geared up for the upcoming round of elections. There is palpable anger against the BJP and its allies and we are confident that we will emerge victorious and fulfil the people's wishes for a pro-poor, pro-people government in each of these states," he said.

Congress leader Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said discussions were held on various topics.

"If we talk about J&K, so, I am going there day after tomorrow and will have a discussion with the local leaders about (Assembly) elections," said Randhawa, who is heading the screening committee for polls in J&K.

Earlier this month, the Congress set up screening committees for Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir to zero in on candidates.

For Haryana, Kharge had appointed Ajay Maken as the chairman of the screening committee with Manickam Tagore, Jignesh Mevani and Srinivas B V as members.

Madhusudan Mistry was named the chairman of the screening committee for Maharashtra with Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, Mansoor Ali Khan and Sirivella Prasad as members.

For Jharkhand, Girish Chodankar is the chairman and Poonam Paswan and Prakash Joshi members.

Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa has been named the chairman of the screening committee for Jammu and Kashmir with Anto Antony and Sachin Rao members. PTI ASK TIR TIR