Congress screening committee meets in Delhi, BJP takes a jibe
State BJP chief Suresh Kashyap made a scathing attack on the Congress leaders and took a jibe at the party’s infighting.
Congress screening Committee met in New Delhi to shortlist the candidates for the forthcoming assembly elections. All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi headed Pradesh Election Committee had earlier approved the list of 39 candidates, which is yet to be released.
The state screening committee headed by former Union minister Deepa Dasmunsi held a second round of meeting in Delhi to shortlist the candidates for the remaining 29 assembly segments. The other two members of the screening committee are Umang Singhar and Dhiraj Gurjar. Others who attended the meeting include AICC in charge for Himachal Pradesh and Rajya Sabha member Rajiv Shukla, AICC secretaries and co-in-charge for Himachal Sanjay Dutt, Tejinder Pal Singh Bittu and Gurkirat Kotli. State PCC chief Pratibha Singh, Leader of the Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri and the Congress campaign committee head Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu were also present at the meeting.
Congress in Himachal is marred with factionalism and it has faced strings of defection with Congress legislators Lakhwinder Rana from Nalagarh and Pawan Kajal switching to BJP and recently party’s senior leader and working president Harsh Mahajan also joined BJP. On Friday, state Congress general secretary and veteran leader Sukh Ram’s grandson Aashray Sharma also bid goodbye to the party to complete his long-anticipated move to BJP.
Shimla, which has 42 applicants, is one of the seats which is still undecided. The screening committee will forward its recommendation to the Pradesh election committee
BJP takes a jibe
State BJP chief Suresh Kashyap made a scathing attack on the Congress leaders and took a jibe at the party’s infighting.
“Congress is not confident enough to announce their party ticket in front of the public, as their candidates are not sure of winning and are insecure,” Suresh Kashyap said. He termed the statement of Congress MLA Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu ridiculous, in which he said that 39 tickets have been finalised and candidates have been informed over the phone.
“ Congress has neither any leader in the centre nor in the state. Its affairs are run only by a few families. The tickets are being finalised over the phone only because of factionalism between Holy Lodge and Sukhu, Mukesh, Kaul Singh and Ramlal Thakur in Congress is known to all,” Kashyap alleged.
The condition is that Congress, which is giving guarantee to the state, is unable to guarantee tickets to its leaders, he said.
“State party chief Pratibha Singh is vying for a ticket for her son as well as her favourite candidate from Rampur Bushar, he said.
