Baghel holds meet on HP polls; booth management training, grassroots organisation discussed

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, who was recently appointed senior observer for the upcoming Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls, held a meeting with the party's top leaders from the state here on Sunday.

The meeting was attended by AICC state in-charge Rajeev Shukla, observers Sachin Pilot and Partap Singh Bajwa, Pradesh Congress Committee chief and MP Pratibha Singh among others, during which Baghel deliberated on imparting booth management training and strengthening grassroots organisation ahead of the polls.

''There is tremendous anti-incumbency in Himachal Pradesh, people are reeling under price rise and absence of jobs. We will fight this election unitedly and are confident of securing a majority,'' Pilot said after the meeting.

The leaders, also including chairman of the campaign committee Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and Pradesh committee working president Vinay Kumar, ideated the campaign going forward and discussed the media strategy, sources said.

Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are likely to be held later this year.

The Congress is looking to wrest power from the BJP in both states.

In the last round of Assembly elections, the grand old party lost Punjab to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and gave a dismal performance in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) retaining power in the four states.

Meanwhile, sources close to Baghel rejected talks of him meeting the Congress high command amid the continuing turf war between him and his cabinet colleague T S Singh Deo.