Cong appoints observers for Maha, J’khand; Gehlot to look after Mumbai, Pilot to oversee Marathwada

New Delhi, Oct 15 (PTI) The Congress on Tuesday appointed division-wise AICC senior observers for the Maharashtra Assembly polls with Ashok Gehlot and G Parameshwara to look after the Mumbai and Konkan region and Sachin Pilot and Uttam Kumar Reddy to oversee the Marathwada region.

As the Congress gets battle-ready for the next round of assembly polls, the opposition party also appointed three AICC senior observers for Jharkhand assembly elections — Tariq Anwar, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has appointed Mukul Wasnik and Avinash Pande as Maharashtra state election senior coordinators.

Kharge has appointed AICC Senior Observers (division-wise) and state election senior coordinators for Maharashtra for the ensuing assembly elections in the state, with immediate effect, a party statement said.

While Gehlot and Parameshwara have been appointed senior observers for Mumbai and Konkan, Bhupesh Baghel, Charanjit Singh Channi and Umang Singhar will look after the Vidarbha region (Amravati and Nagpur).

Sachin Pilot and Uttam Kumar Reddy will oversee the Marathwada region and TS Singhdeo and M B Patil will take care of western Maharashtra.

Syed Naseer Hussain and D Anasuya Seethakka have been appointed senior observers for North Maharashtra, the party said.

The appointments come a day after Maharashtra Congress leaders held a meeting with the party’s top brass here. Congress state unit chief Nana Patole has asserted that there are no issues of seat sharing among the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) constituents and the coalition will form the government in the state, overcoming the BJP’s “horrible tactics”.

Congress president Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, Patole, Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar and senior leader Balasaheb Thorat had attended the meeting at Kharge’s 10, Rajaji Marg residence.

The ruling Mahyuti alliance comprising Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, BJP and Ajit Pawar-led NCP will be up against the opposition MVA comprising the Congress, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), in the assembly polls set to take place next month.

The Jharkhand Assembly polls will see the INDIA bloc square up against the BJP which is looking to unseat the JMM-led government in the state.