‘Will win 150 seats’: Rahul Gandhi's prediction for Congress in MP election

Gandhi addressed the media after the party's 'election preparedness meet' in Delhi, attended by top Congress leaders, including party chief Mallikarjun Kharge.

                                                          Congress leader Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday predicted that the party will win 150 out of 230 seats in the upcoming Madhya Pradesh assembly election later this year. “Karnataka election result will be repeated in Madhya Pradesh,” Gandhi told reporters after the party’s meeting on election preparedness.

“We had a detailed meeting just now, and our internal assessment indicates that after securing 136 seats in Karnataka, we are now projected to win 150 seats in Madhya Pradesh,” Gandhi said, as quoted by news agency ANI.

In a video shared by ANI, when asked about the Congress party’s chief ministerial candidate for Madhya Pradesh, Gandhi chose not to provide a direct answer but emphasised the party’s goal of winning 150 seats.

Kamal Nath who served as the state chief minister during Congress’ short-lived government in the state between 2018 and 2020, said, “We discussed the strategy and the issues on which the party should contest these polls. We are all of the opinion that we will enter the poll fray unitedly.”

Preparing for upcoming elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh

Besides Rahul Gandhi, Kamal Nath, Digvijay Singh, and AICC general secretary KC Venugopal, met party chief Mallikarjun Kharge to discuss the upcoming assembly election in the state.

According to news agency PTI, Rajasthan Congress leaders were also slated to convene in Delhi, including chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot.

Both Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are set to hold elections by the end of this year. Currently, Rajasthan is under the governance of the Congress party, led by Ashok Gehlot, while Madhya Pradesh is governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with Shivraj Singh Chouhan serving as the chief minister.

Congress promises for Madhya Pradesh

Congress, last week released a list of ‘five promises’ to the people of Madhya Pradesh ahead of the assembly election:

1. Gas cylinder at ₹500

2. ₹1500 to every woman per month

3. 100 units of free electricity, 200 units halved

4. Farm loan waiver

5. Implementation of old pension scheme

Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh had earlier said that Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath is poised to be the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming 2023 assembly election.

The assembly polls are expected to take place at the end of the year. In the 2018 elections, the Congress emerged as the largest party and formed government under Nath’s leadership. But in 2020, Nath was forced to resign after his government was reduced to minority due to resignation of 23 Congress MLAs owing allegiance to Jyotiraditya Scindia. The BJP later formed the government under Shivraj Singh Chouhan.