Congress core group discusses contours of alliances in 7 states

NEWDELHI: The Congress on Monday began internal consultations on state-specific alliances for the upcoming assembly polls and also the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, a party functionary said.

A committee on alliances, which includes senior leaders such as AK Antony, Ashok Gehlot, Ahmed Patel and Ghulam Nabi Azad, discussed the possibility of tie-ups in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Karnataka, Odisha, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.

The meeting was held in the absence of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is on a twoday visit to his Lok Sabha constituency, Amethi.

Each state was allotted different time slots for presentations on prospective alliance partners, said the Congress functionary familiar with the developments. Apart from state chiefs and legislative party leaders, general secretaries and state in-charges attended the day-long deliberations. The panel will again meet on Tuesday to discuss alliances in Rajasthan, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Four states – Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram – are going to polls in November-December. The Election Commission will soon take a call on holding the assembly polls in Telangana, where chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao dissolved the assembly on September 6, nearly seven months ahead of schedule.

The discussions on Chhattisgarh came days after BSP chief Mayawati announced a tie-up with Ajit Jogi’s Janata Congress Chhattisgarh following the breakdown of alliance talks with the Congress. HTC