New Delhi: Months before the assembly elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is set to visit Chhattisgarh on September 2. Chhattisgarh, where Congress is in power, will go to polls later this year. Gandhi’s upcoming visit is seen as part of the party’s election campaign in the poll-bound state.
Earlier this week, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge visited the Congress-ruled state, where he launched ‘Bharose ka Sammelan’ (trust conference) which marks the beginning of the election campaign of Congress for Chhattisgarh assembly elections 2023.
Gandhi is likely to attend the “Bharose Ka Sammelan” (trust conference) programme during his visit to the state.
According to a PTI report, Kharge with his visit to Chhattisgarh launched Congress’s election campaign for the five poll-bound states.
Apart from Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Mizoram are expected to go to the polls later this year, the last round of assembly contests before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
After Chhattisgarh, Kharge will visit Telangana on August 18, Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal on August 22, and Rajasthan’s Jaipur on August 23.
Meanwhile, last month, BJP President J.P. Nadda had appointed election in-charges for states holding Assembly polls later this year, including Union Ministers Pralhad Joshi, Bhupendra Yadav, and Mansukh Mandaviya for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chattisgarh, respectively. Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Minister for Railways, has been named co-incharge of the Madhya Pradesh elections, with Yadav.
It is to be noted that in the 2018 assembly polls, despite a landslide victory, the Congress could win only two of the six seats in Janjgir-Champa district. Of the rest of the constituencies, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won two seats each.
Notably in the last elections, the Congress had won 68 of the total 90 seats in Chhattisgarh, while the BJP finished a distant second at 15. The JCC (J) won five seats and its ally BSP got two. The Congress currently has 71 members in the Assembly.