The Congress on Thursday held a meeting with the party's Kerala leadership to chalk out strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The meeting at the Congress headquarters was chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and also attended by former party chief Rahul Gandhi, veteran party leader AK Antony, state in-charge Tariq Anwar, state unit chief K Sudhakaran while former PCC President and CLP leader Ramesh Chennithala participated in this meeting virtually.
The party said that the United Democratic Front (UDF) will win all the 20 Parliamentary seats in the state, adding all Parliamentary constituencies will set up parliamentary election campaign committees. Speaking to the media after the meeting, Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal said, "Today, we had a very fruitful and successful discussion on the coming Parliament election related to Kerala state."
Venugopal, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP said that all the senior leaders of the Congress spoke about the preparations and the issues related to the Lok Sabha elections. "During the meeting, we decided that we have 20 Parliament seats in Kerala. Last time, we, the UDF, had won 19 out of 20, this time the Kerala leaders have assured the leadership that the UDF will win all the 20 Lok Sabha seats from Kerala," Venugopal said.
The Congress leader said that this is what the assurance has been given by the leadership of Kerala. He also said that the Kerala leadership will kick start the Parliament election campaign without any delay in the state.
"Everyone in Kerala is annoyed with the situation at the national level, which is prevalent in this country. Manipur is burning. There is not even a single sentence from the Prime Minister to settle the issue.Actually, this is a shame for the nation that the Prime Minister is totally insensitive and intolerant of such a situation like Manipur,” KC Venugopal said.
Venugopal also asserted that the Congress has a brighter chance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as people from Kerala are fed up with both the Union and the state governments.
"Of course, Rahul Gandhi's presence as an MP, his disqualification process, which has went on from some corner of BJP, has also created a great sympathy among the people of Kerala," Venugopal said, speaking on the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as a Lok Sabha MP from Kerala’s Wayanad Lok Sabha seat earlier this year.
“We are certainly going to win 20 out of 20 seats in Parliament. It will be a big boost for 'INDIA' [Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance]," Venugopal added.
In the last two months, the Congress had held similar meetings with other states.The Congress also held a meeting with the leadership of Karnataka on Wednesday, August 2, to chalk out strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.