![\"Karnataka](\"https:\/\/c.ndtvimg.com\/2023-05\/cbl1a1do_congress-karnataka-ani-1200_625x300_15_May_23.jpg\"\/ "\\"Karnataka")
<\/div>\nCongress president Mallikarjun Kharge will chair the meeting, sources said. (file)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
New Delhi: <\/b><\/p>\n
Bolstered by electoral victories in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, the Congress is now shifting focus to other poll-bound states in a desperate bid to consolidate its voter base ahead of the crucial general elections next year. The grand old party has called a meeting of leaders from Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan on May 24 to strategise for upcoming Assembly elections.<\/p>\n
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will chair the meeting, sources said.<\/p>\n
The meeting comes amid internal conflict among senior leaders over postings. Celebrations of the massive win in the south were dampened by week-long chaos regarding the Chief Ministerial seat, with two top leaders refusing to blink. Congress eventually calmed nerves with a power-sharing deal between Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar. The party is now faced with another similar tussle. In Rajasthan, a belligerent Sachin Pilot has trained guns on his own government to make his political aspirations clear to the high command. Congress’s state in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa has said the party won’t expel dissidents but reminded how the leaders in the past had fared after leaving the party.<\/p>\n
Madhya Pradesh, where Congress suffered a humiliating loss after a rebellious Jyotiraditya Scindia walked away with 22 party MLAs causing the fall of the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government in 2020, is another challenge for the party as most of the Scindia loyalist MLAs were comfortably re-elected from the BJP. The party hopes to topple the BJP as it faces huge anti-incumbency after staying in power for most of the last two decades.<\/p>\n
In Telangana, Congress will take on K Chandrashekar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi, complicating plans of a united grand opposition to the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.<\/p>\n
Congress is hoping to capitalise on former party president Rahul Gandhi’s massive pan-India foot march “Bharat Jodo Yatra”\u00a0which it says has re-energised its cadre base. The party publicly credited the yatra for the Karnataka win.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n