Rahul Gandhi visits MP, holds meeting with senior Congress leaders

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi arrived here on Tuesday to take part in a campaign being started with the aim of strengthening the party at the grassroots level and infusing new enthusiasm among workers for the 2028 Madhya Pradesh polls.

Before the campaign launch, Gandhi addressed a meeting of the Congress' political affairs committee and discussed key issues with the senior party leaders.

Earlier, MP Congress president Jitu Patwari and former chief minister Kamal Nath accorded a warm welcome to Gandhi, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, as he arrived at the airport here.

Gandhi later chaired a meeting at the state Congress office in Bhopal where general secretary in-charge Harish Choudhary, AICC organisation in-charge K C Venugopal, Patwari, Nath, former CM Digvijaya Singh, Leader of Opposition in the MP assembly Umang Singhar and other party leaders were present.

The state Congress unit later in a statement said, "Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi addressed the meeting of the Political Affairs Committee held at 'Indira Bhawan' in Bhopal today and discussed important issues with all senior leaders."  Former state Congress president Arun Yadav and former MP Sajjan Verma, senior Congress leader Vivek Tankha, former LoP Ajay Singh and former Mahila Congress president Shobha Ojha were among those who attended the meeting.

Earlier, informing about 'Sangthan Srujan Abhiyan' (Organisation Rejuvenation Campaign), Yadav said it is being started with the aim of strengthening the organisation at the grassroots level and build enthusiasm among the party workers.

"We have not been in power in the state for a long time and under 'Mission 2028', we will work to form our government in the state again," he said.

The Congress was in power in the state for a brief period between December 2018 and March 2020 under the leadership of Kamal Nath. Apart from that, the grand old party has been out of power in Madhya Pradesh since 2003.

The next state assembly elections will be due in 2028.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress could not win a single seat in the state.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won all the 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, including Chhindwara, the home turf Kamal Nath.