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Congress panel arrives in Hyderabad to pick candidates for Telangana assembly polls
The screening committee would finalise the candidates for at least 40 assembly seats and send the same to the high command for approval
The Congress on Monday began the exercise for the selection of candidates to contest the upcoming assembly elections in Telangana, scheduled to be held in the last week of November or first week of December, people familiar with the matter said.
A screening committee constituted by the Congress high command for Telangana under the auspices of senior Lok Sabha member from Kerala K Muralidharan landed in Hyderabad on Monday morning to hold its first meeting at Gandhi Bhavan.
Apart from Muralidharan, two other members of the screening committee – former Maharashtra MLA Baba Siddique and Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani, also arrived in Hyderabad to a rousing reception from the party leaders and cadres from Telangana.
“Muralidharan held discussions with Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee [TPCC] president A Revanth Reddy, Congress Legislature Party leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, AICC in-charge of Telangana Manikrao Thakre, Lok Sabha member N Uttam Kumar Reddy and AICC secretaries in-charge of the state, who are ex officio members of the screening committee,” a TPCC leader said.
He said in the first meeting, the screening committee focused on the assembly constituencies where there is no stiff competition for party tickets. “After assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the ticket aspirants in these constituencies, the party would shortlist the names,” he said.
The screening committee would finalise the candidates for at least 40 assembly seats and send the same to the high command for approval. “In all probability, the first list of candidates might be announced by August end, so that the selected candidates can begin their campaign in the right earnest,” the TPCC leader quoted above said.
The screening committee is also expected to visit some key constituencies and interact with some local leaders to elicit their opinion, before finalising the candidates. “The Congress is planning to complete the exercise of finalising the candidates by September, as there is every possibility that the Election Commission of India [ECI] might release the schedule for the assembly elections in October,” he added.
Meanwhile, the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is also expected to release the list of candidates well soon. According to a senior BRS legislator, party president K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) is likely to release the list of 90 candidates sometime next week. “He has already shortlisted the candidates and is waiting for an auspicious date. The Sravana Masam will commence on August 18 and KCR may announce the list of candidates on August 19 or 20,” he said.
