NEW DELHI: On May 29, the Madhya Pradesh party leaders will meet with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to discuss poll preparation for the key state's Assembly elections.

The meeting, which will be presided over by Kharge, will include 10 other top state officials in addition to former chief minister Kamal Nath, senior party leader Digvijay Singh, and state in-charge J.P. Agarwal.

Elections in Madhya Pradesh are slated to take place in December.

The meeting was initially scheduled for May 26. However, because of the two-day long deliberation on the extension of the Karnataka cabinet, it was postponed.

On Thursday and Friday, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D.K. Shivakumar met with the senior officials to discuss the enlargement of the state's cabinet.

During Monday's meeting, the party is likely to announce its chief ministerial candidate as well as the guarantees for the people. The campaign plan for the state will also be decided by the Congress.

Notably, numerous major BJP leaders in the state have defected to the Congress in recent days.

As chief minister in 2018, Kamal Nath led the Congress to victory. But after Jyotiraditya Scindia rebelled and joined the BJP in March 2020 along with several of his MLAs, the government was overthrown.

The state's deteriorating law and order situation, widespread anti-incumbency against the ruling BJP, and allegations of corruption are among the reasons the Congress wants to retake power in the state.

Siddaramaiah’s cabinet expansion sparks more dissent in Karnataka

Arvind Kejriwal seeks opposition's support against ordinance promulgated by Centre