The Congress party has intensified preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, with it holding discussions on the manifesto and seat sharing with its allies in the INDIA bloc.
Crucial meetings were held on Thursday by Congress's top leadership, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, with the members of the party's Alliance Committee and Manifesto Committee.
In the Alliance Committee meeting, feedback from state units on seat-sharing with other INDIA bloc parties for the Lok Sabha elections was discussed. It was also decided that the state-wise talks with coalition partners will commence soon.
Committee convener Mukul Wasnik told reporters that Kharge was handed over the report from the state units. "The Congress Alliance Committee held deliberations with leaders from various states within the INDIA bloc in the last several days. Today, their details were given to party president Kharge, former president Rahul Gandhi and Organisation general secretary KC Venugopal. Now, soon Congress will hold state-wise discussions with other allies of the INDIA bloc," Mukul Wasnik said.
While Wasnik is the convener of the panel, other members include former chief ministers Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel as well as Mohan Prakash and Salman Khurshid.
Wasnik said the party was aware that seat-sharing has to be done soon and it will give it top priority. "We will be talking with parties that influence areas and keeping their influence in view, we will have our dialogue. Certainly, this will be a state-wise discussion and then we will move forward," he added.
On seat-sharing in Punjab and Delhi, Wasnik said that he was not in a position to talk about specific states and parties. "Our objective is to ensure that the INDIA bloc forms government after the Lok Sabha polls," he added.
The Manifesto Committee too held its first meeting. "This was the first meeting of the Manifesto Committee. There will be a meeting again next week regarding the manifesto of Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Preliminary views were exchanged in today's meeting," said Rajya Sabha MP P Chidambaram.
