Jharkhand Assembly elections 2014: Cong start picking candidates
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- Category: Jharkhand Political News
- Last Updated: Thursday, 22 January 2015 21:00
Jharkhand Assembly elections 2014: Cong start picking candidates
Sixteen Congress observers will start the groundwork for cherry-picking candidates for the assembly polls from July 19 even as the party kept postponing key decisions like removing non-performers and on the future of the alliance with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee (JPCC) members and senior party leaders at the Congress headquarters in Ranchi on Friday. The observers, hand-picked from Bihar, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, will be deployed in different parts of the state to gather feedback from the electorate.
"The observers will be stationed in different parts of the state from July 19. They will gather feedback about Congress from the people as well as Congress leaders," sid B K Hariprasad, the party's state in-charge.
The observers will go to 14 Lok Sabha constituencies, each of which comprises five to six assembly seats. "They will give their feedback on who are the winnable candidates from which assembly constituency. The recommendations will be forwarded to the Congress high command who will take a final call on ticket distribution," said a Congress leader on condition of anonymity.
After its humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha election in Jharkhand, Congress is leaving no stone unturned and has decided to take its course correction to the panchayat level. "The observers have been asked to hold meetings with district and block Congress committees involving panchayat-level Congress workers," said JPCC president Sukhdeo Bhagat.
"The observers have three months within which they have to revitalize the party at every level," said Bhagat. Congress spokesperson Rajesh Thakur said the observers also include former MLAs.
Meanwhile, state Congress once again postponed the decision to remove district presidents who had not performed as per expectations in the Lok Sabha election. "It will be done soon," said Hariprasad when asked when they would be removed. Congress also avoided the tenacious pre-poll alliance decision. "A decision would be taken in this regard by party high command," said Hariprasad.