Cong to hold CWC meet on Nov 29; focus on defeat in Maha, Haryana elections

The Congress party will hold its Working Committee meeting on November 29 following its poor performance in the recently concluded Maharashtra and Haryana elections.

The Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting is expected to focus on the party's electoral defeats in Maharashtra and Haryana, along with the current political situation.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered a major setback in Maharashtra. The Shiv Sena (UBT), led by Uddhav Thackeray, won only 20 seats, while Congress managed 16, and the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) secured just 10 seats.

The BJP emerged victorious with 132 seats, while its allies--the Shiv Sena faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the NCP faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar--secured 57 and 41 seats, respectively.

Under the seat-sharing arrangement within the MVA, Congress contested the majority of the seats (101) and was expected to drive the alliance forward. However, the party managed to win only 16 seats.

In Haryana, the BJP formed its third consecutive government after winning 48 seats in the 90-member assembly. Congress secured 37 seats.

Earlier today, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee blamed Congress for the alliance's poor performance, expressing disappointment in its inability to meet expectations.

Speaking to ANI, Banerjee said, "The Congress has failed to achieve the desired results in either Haryana or Maharashtra. We had tremendous hope that Congress would perform better. The INDIA alliance is in place, but the expected outcomes were not achieved. There is a significant failure on Congress's part."

Banerjee also highlighted the need for a unified leadership within the INDIA bloc to challenge the BJP effectively.

"If the INDIA alliance wants to fight against the BJP, it must become stronger. And to achieve that, a single leader is essential. Who can be that leader is the core question. Congress has tried all experiments, but they have failed," the TMC MP added.