Congress gets battle-ready for state polls; Kharge meets state chiefs, general secretaries

New Delhi, Aug 13 (PTI) Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday held a meeting with all general secretaries, state unit chiefs and AICC state in-charges here as the party gets battle-ready for the upcoming round of assembly polls.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and KC Venugopal, among others, were part of the meeting at the AICC headquarters here.

Sources said the party chief took stock of the preparations for the upcoming polls in Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand later this year. Polls could also be held in Jammu and Kashmir this year.

With assembly polls in key states coming up, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi had said at a parliamentary party meeting recently that the "mahaul (public mood)" is in the party's favour but had cautioned against complacency and over confidence after the goodwill generated for it in the Lok Sabha elections.

Leaders of poll-bound states have been holding meetings with Venugopal and the party leadership separately to apprise them about the preparations for the polls.

Earlier this month, the Congress had set up screening committees for Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir to zero in on candidates for the upcoming assembly elections.

For Haryana, Kharge has appointed Ajay Maken as the chairman of the screening committee and for Jharkhand, Girish Chodankar has been named the chairman.

Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa has been named the chairman of the screening committee for Jammu and Kashmir. Madhusudan Mistry has been named the chairman of the screening committee for Maharashtra.PTI