Chhattisgarh Polls: Kharge To Kickstart Congress Campaign In Janjgir-Champa District Today

Mallikarjun Kharge will land at Swami Vivekananda Airport in Raipur around 12:10 pm and attend the 'Bharose Ka Sammelan' programme in Janjgir city at 1:30 pm.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge

Source : PTI

New Delhi: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge will kickstart the party’s election campaign in poll-bound Chhattisgarh from today. This will be his second visit to the Congress-ruled state after assuming charge as the AICC chief last October. According to party officials cited by news agency PTI, Kharge will land at Swami Vivekananda Airport in Raipur around 12:10 pm and attend the 'Bharose Ka Sammelan' programme in Janjgir city at 1:30 pm.

After attending the programme, the Congress chief will depart for Delhi at 4:20 pm, PTI quoted party officials as saying.

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.

According to PTI's report, it is being said that with his visit to Chhattisgarh, Congress will launch its election campaign for the five poll-bound states. After Chhattisgarh, Kharge will visit Telangana on August 18, Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal on August 22, and Rajasthan’s Jaipur on August 23.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi commenced a two-day visit to his parliamentary seat, Wayanad in Kerala, on Saturday. During his address, he discussed his recent visit to Manipur, emphasising the dire situation in the region.

He sharply criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's response to the upheaval and expressed concern about the BJP's divisive policies.

"There's blood everywhere, murder everywhere, and rape everywhere. That is the situation in Manipur, and the Prime Minister spoke for 2 hours and 13 minutes in Parliament, but only for 2 minutes in Manipur. He (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) laughed and made a joke. His cabinet laughed, joked....," Gandhi while addressing people in Wayanad.