Maharashtra, Odisha Congress units hold review meetings on LS poll debacle

Maharashtra and Odisha units of the Congress on Thursday held review meetings at their respective state party headquarters to discuss reasons behind the party's dismal performance in the recently held Lok Sabha elections.

Senior Congress leaders including Ashok Chavan, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Naseem Khan, Manikrao Thackeray attended the meet along with the 27 Lok Sabha candidates at Tilak Bhawan in Mumbai.

Maharashtra unit party chief Ashok Chavan said the Congress has suffered huge losses in the elections due to Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, a coalition of AIMIM and Prakash Ambedkar's Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh.

Chavan had offered to resign from his post after the party's humiliating defeat.

Odisha Congress president Niranjan Patnayak, in-charge Jitendra Prasad Singh, Chattisgarh Minister T S Singdeo, former Union Ministers Bhakta Charan Das and K P Singhdeo, and all successful and defeated candidates were present in the meeting held at the Congress Bhawan in Bhubaneswar.

The grand old party put up a very dismal showing in the Lok Sabha elections by winning only 52 seats across the country.

The party won only one Lok Sabha and nine Assembly seats in Odisha where simultaneous polls were held. In Maharashtra too, it won only one seat.