Nath admits Cong lacks visibility in MP

Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath on Saturday virtually admitted that the party was yet to be visible on the ground even though the Assembly polls in the state are barely four months away.

“Congress ( leaders and workers) must come out ( of their houses) and hit the ground. Unless they come to the ground, the party cannot win the elections,” he said while addressing the delegates of All India Congress Committee ( AICC) and Pradesh Congress Committee ( PCC) here.

Mr Nath, who has been facing charges of confining himself in the Congress headquarters here without bothering to tour the state to galvanise the party workers and woo the voters since he took charge of MP unit of Congress on May one this year, said his ongoing exercise of interacting with representatives of people of different castes would be over in three to four days.

“I will launch a statewide campaign for the party after 3- 4 days after completing the exercise of meeting representatives of people of different castes,” he told the gathering, party sources quoting him told this newspaper.

Mr Nath said it was imperative to meet representatives of people from all sections of society and not confine the interactions to only a few societies to win elections.

He also dropped hints that the party would announce candidates in around 130 out of 230 Assembly constituencies in MP by September 15 this year.

Meanwhile, sources said AICC president Rahul Gandhi was most likely to visit MP to launch poll campaign for his party in the first week of September.

He is scheduled to blow the poll bugle after paying a visit to Omkareswar temple in Neemad and stage road shows in a bus in 20 Assembly constituencies in the region in the first phase of his poll campaigning in the state.

His scheduled visit to MP would be finalised in the coming week, sources said.