From guarantees to strict party diktat: How Congress is gearing up for battleground Maharashtra

After the poll debacle in Haryana, the Congress is bracing up to put its house in order and present a united face in Maharashtra where it seeks to win in alliance with its other INDIA bloc partners.

According to reports, factional fighting was cited as one of the main reasons for its drubbing in Haryana. The party leadership does not want to take chances and has issued a stern warning to all its state leaders not to speak anything in public either against their party colleagues or any of the allies, said a report by news agency PTI.

The message of stern action in case of any violation has come from none other than Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi, who are learnt to have told all its leaders in Maharashtra to refrain from making any such public statements, during an internal meeting.

The party on 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. Bhupesh Baghel, Charanjit Singh Channi and Umang Singhar will look after the Vidarbha region (Amravati and Nagpur).