The top leadership of the state Congress will hold a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the challenges before the party in the forthcoming local body elections.
The top leadership of the state Congress will hold a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the challenges before the party in the forthcoming local body elections.
MPCC president Manikrao Thakre, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and Union cabinet ministers of the party will evolve a strategy for the 27th zilla parishad and ten municipal body elections due in the next eight months.
While the Centre has left the decision of an alliance in local bodies to the state, the state leadership, namely Chavan, reckons that he will have to consolidate the party at the grassroots level through administrative challenges to ensure it does not lose its number one position.
“The mood in the districts is against an alliance with NCP,” a source said. However, the top leadership is not sure whether the party will be able to sail through in the BMC elections without NCP’s support.
Taking into account the plans undertaken by the NCP for organisational expansion, the Congress feels that it has to start preparing for the local body polls from now.
A Congress general secretary said, “For us it is a mini election as a sizeable number of voters will cast their franchise in their respective zilla parishads and corporations. These elections will define the party position at the grassroots.”
What is also worrying the party is the image-beating it has taken following the Adarsh housing scam, the sand and oil mafia and price rise. The image correction measures through transparent decision-making and expediting the development works will also be highlighted in the meeting.
Union minister for rural development Vilasrao Deshmukh, Union minister for power Sushil Kumar Shinde and Union minister of state for home and information technology Gurudas Kamat are expected to attend the meeting. The state Congress MPs and MLAs along with district and block-level office bearers will be present in it.
“The meeting will also determine the mood within the organisation on the issue of Thakre. Despite a section voicing for change, the central leadership is not very keen on displacing Thakre,” added the source. The meeting will felicitate newly-appointed all India general secretary in charge of Maharashtra Mohan Prakash.
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