Eye on polls, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren meets Kharge, Rahul

New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi met Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren here on Wednesday, as the Congress-JMM alliance gets battle-ready for the Assembly polls in the state later this year.

The meeting at Kharge’s residence here comes a day after the Congress’ shock defeat in the Haryana Assembly polls and talk of hard bargain by INDIA bloc allies with the grand old party in the upcoming elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

Sources said preparations for the upcoming Assembly elections were discussed at the meeting with both the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) looking to clinch a seat-sharing deal at the earliest and begin campaigning.

The Congress, JMM, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Left parties are looking to retain power in Jharkhand with the BJP set to launch an aggressive campaign and wrest power in the state.

Soren’s wife Kalpana Soren and Congress general secretary, in-charge organisation, K C Venugopal, were also present in the meeting.

After the Congress’ defeat in Haryana, some opposition INDIA bloc parties have flexed their muscles, accusing the grand old party of ignoring them. They said this attitude should not be repeated in future polls.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) turned out to be the biggest critic of the Congress, accusing it of ignoring other parties resulting in the poll debacle.

Leaders of the TMC, AAP, CPI(M), CPI and some other parties have also blamed the Congress for working alone and not jointly, which led to the defeat in Haryana.

The Congress is looking to take the allies on board and settle a seat-sharing deal soon in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.