HYDERABAD: The Central Election Committee of the Congress on Tuesday cleared the names of around 30 candidates for eight states, including for eight seats in Telangana.
The CEC meeting was chaired by AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and attended by senior party leaders Sonia Gandhi, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal and other members of the panel. Rahul Gandhi, who is also a member of the panel, was not present during the meeting. From Telangana, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy attended the meeting.
According to sources, the party has cleared the names of G Ranjith Reddy from Chevella, A Praveen Reddy from Karimnagar, G Vamshi from Peddapalli, T Jeevan Reddy from Nizamabad, Pasunoori Dayakar from Warangal, Danam Nagender from Secunderabad, P Sunitha Mahender Reddy from Malkajgiri and Neelam Madhu from Medak. However, the Congress did not make any official announcement till the time this report was filed.
The CEC reportedly deliberated the nominees for the remaining five constituencies. The sources said that no decision on these five constituencies was reached as the party was weighing its options very carefully. Also, the party is waiting for leaders from rival parties to jump ship to the Congress in some of these constituencies, the sources said.
The sources said that the CEC has kept on hold candidates for Adilabad, Khammam, Nagarkurnool, Bhongir and Hyderabad constituencies. The CEC will again meet on Thursday to finalise candidates for the remaining constituencies.
The party had earlier announced candidates for Nalgonda, Zaheerabad, Mahabubabad and Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha constituencies.