Maharashtra’s Congress unit to discuss poll strategy in today’s meet

After state Congress chief Ashok Chavan and city chief Milind Deora recently stepped down, senior leaders said appointments to these posts were unlikely to happen soon in the wake of the developments in Karnataka.

As the Maharashtra Congress chief’s appointment is likely to take a few more days, the state unit leaders will meet on Wednesday and resume discussions to prepare for the upcoming assembly polls.

Mumbai Congress Candidate for Loksabha Urmila Matondkar address the elementary review meeting in the presence of Milind Deora, Priya Dutt and Eknath Gaikwad for Loksabha Election 2019 held at Mumbai Congress office.(Kunal Patil/HT File Photo)

After state Congress chief Ashok Chavan and city chief Milind Deora recently stepped down, senior leaders said appointments to these posts were unlikely to happen soon in the wake of the developments in Karnataka and the absence of a national party president. They requested Chavan to convene a meeting to discuss the upcoming polls and avoid losing out on time.

“We will take stock of the performance in the last Assembly polls and seats where our candidates stood first and second. We will discuss strategy over talks with smaller parties including Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and seat sharing with the NCP,” a Congress leader said, requesting anonymity.

A senior party leader said the state unit is expected to get four executive presidents representing various communities along with a president, but the announcement may be delayed.

Harshavardhan Patil, KC Padvi, Amit Deshmukh and Nitin Raut are the front runners for the post of executive presidents, while Balasaheb Thorat and former Union minister Sushilkumar Shinde are front runners for the post of the state chief.

“All India Congress Committee general secretaries Mallikarjun Kharge and KC Venugopal are busy in Karnataka, so the appointments to state posts will be delayed,” said another Congress leader. He said the Congress Working Committee meeting will be held in Delhi first and a new party president is expected to be finalised in it. Meanwhile, the spat between Deora and Sanjay Nirupam reached Delhi, as Nirupam was summoned by the party leadership. Nirupam, on Tuesday, held Deora responsible for “leaking” the letter written by Urmila Matondkar.