Nana Patole: Congress to address unemployment, inflation, farmers' issues on Maharashtra assembly poll manifesto

Nana Patole/ PTI

Nana Patole, the party's state unit chief, declared on Wednesday that the Congress party's manifesto for the 2024 Maharashtra assembly poll will focus on the difficulties faced by farmers and youth, particularly unemployment and inflation. Former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan will chair the manifesto committee, he added per the PTI report.

According to the report, Patole made these comments after attending a meeting of the party's state core committee at Gandhi Bhavan, the party's headquarters in South Mumbai. The voting for the 288-member Maharashtra assembly is expected to take place in October.

The Congress has decided to kickstart its campaign for the Maharashtra Assembly Poll with a rally in Mumbai on August 20, the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

"The party's manifesto committee will be headed by Prithviraj Chavan. Today's core committee meeting discussed issues like the welfare of farmers and youth, and the challenges of unemployment and inflation, which will be highlighted in the poll manifesto," Patole said.

He further stated that the people of Maharashtra have previously shown unhappiness with the current Mahayuti administration during the Lok Sabha elections.

PTI's party sources told the news agency that the rally would take place on August 20 at the MMRDA Ground in Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC). Mallikarjun Kharge, the Congress president, and Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, will attend the gathering to be held ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly Poll. Uddhav Thackeray, president of the Shiv Sena (UBT), and Sharad Pawar, chairman of the NCP (SP), have also been invited.

Party leader Naseem Khan stated that the core committee meeting concentrated on rally preparations, seat distribution among Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners, and the election campaign.

A coordination committee of the MVA will discuss seat-sharing ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly Poll, with two representatives from each of the three MVA constituents attending. The NCP (SP) will be represented by state unit chief Jayant Patil and former minister Anil Deshmukh. Congress representatives will be state president Nana Patole and CLP leader Balasaheb Thorat. MPs Sanjay Raut and Anil Desai will represent the Shiv Sena (UBT).

The MVA, comprising Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP), secured 30 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state, reducing the BJP's tally from 23 in 2019 to nine.