Telangana Elections: Congress likely to finalise candidates by Dussehra

NEW DELHI: The Telangana Congress screening committee has almost completed its exercise of selecting candidates for the upcoming elections in the State. The full list is likely to be finalised by Dussehra in October.

The Committee met in New Delhi on Thursday. The meeting started under the chairmanship of screening committee chairman Muralidharan in the Congress war room. Congress leaders Jignesh Mevani, Baba Siddique, Telangana Congress affairs in-charge Manik Rao Thackeray, State party president Revanth Reddy, MP Uttam Kumar Reddy and CLP leader Bhatti Vikramarka were present in the meeting.

Komatireddy Venkata Reddy and Madhu Yashki, who felt that they were not given priority in the committees with regard to elections, were given a chance to be part of the screening committee.

The selection of candidates had already been completed in Hyderabad and the report was submitted to the party high command by the State leadership. The Pradesh Election Committee had apparently recommended about 300 names to the screening committee for 119 constituencies.

Meanwhile, the Congress Screening Committee had met on Wednesday as well. Candidates were drilled for two-and-a-half hours. However, the meeting was halted due to the vote on the Women’s Bill in the Lok Sabha yesterday. The matter of selection of candidates came to a conclusion on Thursday. About 40 names are likely to be finalised.

The screening committee would scrutinise the list suggested by the TPCC political affairs committee and finalise the candidates. After preparing the list of candidates, the party would send the list to the party's central election committee. The committee would examine the list and send it to the Congress President. After that, the high command would finalize the candidates. Seats would be allocated to candidates based on various survey reports, local conditions and social equations in the constituencies. The Congress hopes to announce the first list by the end of this month and finalise the candidates for 119 constituencies by Dussehra.

It has also planned a bus yatra starting from the North Telangana districts. Dates for the yatra are yet to be finalised. The idea of the yatra is to project that the party is united and will provide a stable goverment if it came to power in the State.