Rahul Gandhi to review Congress's preparedness in Maharashtra after Haryana loss

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi will meet Congress leaders and review the party's poll preparedness in Maharashtra ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls slated to be held later this year.

In Short

• Key Maharashtra Congress leaders, including Nana Patole, to attend meeting
• Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge to also attend meeting in Delhi
• Meeting comes against backdrop of Congress's shock loss in Haryana

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi called a review meeting today on the poll preparedness of the Congress for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly election. The meeting assumes significance for the Congress following its shock loss in Haryana, where it could not cash in on a decade-long anti-incumbency against the BJP.

The Gandhi scion will meet Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole and other party leaders, including Vijay Wadettiwar, Prithviraj Chavan, Balasaheb Thorat, Varsha Gaikwad and Ramesh Chennithala. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge is expected to be present at the meeting.

Several leaders, including Nana Patole, began arriving at 10, Rajaji Marg for the meeting.

The Congress, which pollsters predicted the party's outright win in Haryana, was defeated by the BJP, winning 37 of 90 Assembly seats. The saffron party got 48 seats. Several INDIA bloc members had questioned the Congress's strategy in the northern state and asked the party to introspect it.

Today's meeting on the Congress's Maharashtra poll preparedness also holds importance as several members of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) are demanding more seats to contest in the state.

The MVA comprises three main parties -- Congress, the faction of Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray, and the faction of NCP helmed by Sharad Pawar.

Maharashtra, which has 288 Assembly seats, is slated to go to polls either next month or in December.