As an early Lok Sabha poll has become a possibility, the Congress started the process for selection of party candidates for its 21 constituencies.
The AICC has already appointed two observers for the State to interact with different sections of people to select aspirants having winning chances in the constituencies.
The observers will report on constituencies from where Congress candidates were elected in the last elections. The observers will report whether sitting MPs should be renominated or alternative candidates fielded in their place.
The Congress had won from Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Sundargarh and Balasore Lok Sabha constituencies in 2009 elections.
One of the observers, former MP Surajbhanu Solanki, reached Bhubaneswar on Saturday and visited Berhampur and Cuttack Lok Sabha constituencies. He will visit Kendrapara constituency on Monday.
Solanki is in charge of Nabarangpur, Kandhamal, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Bhubaneswar, Aska, Berhampur and Koraput constituencies.
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) general secretary Arjya Kumar Gyanendra said Solanki will visit all constituencies in his charge in the next three or four days.
The Congress observer will interact with senior office-bearers of the State Congress, common people, intellectuals, farmers, labourers, women, students and youths before recommending the list of candidates.
The second observer, who is in charge of 11 Lok Sabha constituencies in the State, will arrive here on November 20, Gyanendra said.
Meanwhile, the padayatra of the Congress, led by OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik in Western Odisha districts, entered the fifth day on Sunday.
The padayatra will conclude on Monday at Atabira, Gyanendra said. This is the second phase ‘parivartan yatra’ of the Congress in the State.
The first phase, which started from Swaraj Ashram in Cuttack on October 2, concluded at Sakshigopal in Puri district on October 9. The focus of the ‘parivartan yatra’ was on the ‘non-performance of the scam-tainted’ Naveen Patnaik Government and the rapidly deteriorating law and order situation, including the growing Naxalite activities and atrocities on Dalit women.