New Delhi: Congress leader Manickam Tagore on Tuesday exuded confidence for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and said that the INDIA bloc will register victory on 300 seats in the upcoming General elections.
Soon after the Congress Central Election Committee meeting, which was held on Tuesday, Tagore said, “Four hours of meeting has just concluded. Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge sat together with all state leaders, Chief Ministers, and others. Congress party is well prepared, and we are strategically announcing the candidates. The Congress will fight the battle to win and INDIA Alliance is going to win 300 seats.”
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Congress president Jitendra (Jitu) Patwari said that the final discussion for the candidates from Madhya Pradesh will soon be announced.
“Single-name programming for our Madhya Pradesh has been done, now it will go to CEC. There will be a meeting the day after tomorrow (March 21) and it will be announced. All the people who are needed in the elections are being made to contest (Lok Sabha elections),” Patwari said.
Also, Congress leader Bhanwar Jitendra Singh said, “Today’s meeting regarding (selection of candidates) for Madhya Pradesh elections has been postponed and now it will be held on March 21 and discussion will take place.”
Also, Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole said that names from the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi will be announced on March 21.
“The CEC meeting will be held tomorrow and after that (the names of candidates) will be declared. We are going to formally sit and announce the seats (of MVA) on March 21,” Patole said.
Congress leader and former Kerala LoP Ramesh Chennithala said that Shiv Sena (UBT) is moving rightly ahead under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray.
“It will happen after March 20 (announcement of MVA seats). Shiv Sena is united under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray. The public is with him, and his workers are with him, so we do not have any problem with him (MNS chief Raj Thackeray). Shiv Sena is moving ahead under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray, we are with him in Maha Vikas Aghadi,” he said.
Congress has finalised the names of candidates for 12 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, sources said on Tuesday. The finalisation of names was done after Congress held a meeting of its Central Election Committee on Tuesday.
“Discussions took place for Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and West Bengal by the screening committee,” said Congress leader Jaivardhan Singh.The Congress has already announced candidates for 82 Lok Sabha seats.
In its first list, the party declared the names of 39 candidates, while in its second list, the names of 43 candidates were announced.Voting for Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal will be held in all seven phases.
The Trinamool Congress has already announced its candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal. In the previous Lok Sabha polls, the TMC won 22 seats, while the BJP sprung a major surprise, winning 18 seats.
Earlier, the Congress Working Committee held a detailed discussion on the manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls, which has a heavy thrust on the party’s ‘nyay’ agenda and authorised party chief Mallikarjun Kharge to grant it final approval.
Addressing a press conference after the CWC meeting, Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh said that the party will build on the momentum of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, during which the party announced five guarantees and a plan has been prepared to take the message of guarantees at the grassroots level.
“The meeting we had today was not just for our manifesto but for our ‘nyay patra’. Congress is absolutely ready for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. In the meeting today, there were discussions on our agenda. For the last 63 days, Rahul Gandhi has been talking about our five Nyay and has announced 25 guarantees. This is not just a simple manifesto but an important ‘nyay patra’ so that the people of our country can see a better future,” he said.
The meeting of the CWC, the party’s highest decision-making body, was held days after the announcement of the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections. The Lok Sabha polls and assembly polls in four states will be held from April 19 to June 1 and the results will be declared on June 4.
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