HYDERABAD: As the Assembly elections are round the corner, the Congress high command formed several committees to make its State unit battle ready. These panels, including election, screening and campaign committees as well as a committee of observers, were formed with the primary objective of shaping the party’s strategy and to oversee the process of selecting poll candidates.
However, these committees, which one senior leader said were “too many”, have left the Congress leaders, especially the ticket aspirants, in a dilemma. They are now in a conundrum over which committee to approach and whom to submit their requests or applications to contest in the next elections.
AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge recently appointed former MP from West Bengal Deepa Dasmunshi as senior election observer for Telangana and Dr Sirivella Prasad, AICC in-charge of Tamil Nadu, as observer for Telangana. The party also appointed MP from Kerala’s Vatakara segment
K Muraleedharan as the chairman of screening committee, while Maharashtra’s Baba Siddique and Gujarat’s Jignesh Mevani were named members of the same panel. Interestingly, the AICC also expanded the one-man campaign committee into a jumbo panel.
While appointment of these panels led to confusion among the aspiring candidates, there is also a lack of clarity in the application submission process, forcing the ticket seekers to approach the party’s senior leaders with a request to “guide” them and support their candidature.
Nonetheless, TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy, CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and AICC in-charge for Telangana Manikrao Thakre will be among the leaders who will have a significant say in the selection of election candidates.
It be may be mentioned here that the party’s leadership has already revealed that it would give tickets solely based on surveys, which are being carried out by strategist Sunil Kanugolu’s team. In view of prevailing uncertainty, and the party’s commitment to an “inclusive minds and categories” policy, it remains to be seen whether the Congress will adopt a foolproof system in finalising the candidates.
