Congress meeting on 10 January to plan for 2024 Lok Sabha polls

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said today, 9 January, that a meeting has been convened tomorrow, 10 January, to assign responsibilities to various units of the party for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Kharge said he was travelling to Delhi on Wednesday to hold the meeting.

"The INDIA [Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance] bloc has taken some decisions regarding the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. I'm going to Delhi tomorrow. There is a meeting with various units of our party. We have to assign responsibilities to various units," Kharge told reporters.

The 81-year-old Rajya Sabha member said the party has already appointed over 500 observers across constituencies. The party has also appointed district-wise observers.

"There is also a meeting in Karnataka tomorrow to decide on how to choose candidates. Similar exercises have taken place in other states," Kharge said.

Asked at the press meet about the recent furore on social media over the Maldives, Kharge opined that Prime Minister Modi took everything too personally.

Insisting that India needed to keep a good relationship with its neighbours, the Congress chief pointed out that nations cannot change their neighbours.

Only in the worst situation should neighbouring nation states fight, he added—as India had fought against Pakistan for Bangladesh's liberation.

"Here he [Prime Minister Narendra Modi] hugs someone and calls some other person wrong. He passes disparaging comments on the previous policies, right from the first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, saying that he did nothing. This is not good," Kharge said.