‘AICC panel shortlists candidates for LS polls’
Mir, Wani, Bhalla, Balbir in race
Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Feb 2: Senior Congress leader and Chairman AICC Screening Committee for Lok Sabha elections in J&K Bhakta Charan Das (Ex-MP) today said that he was not hopeful of the BJP-led Central Government holding Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir before September-end.
However, he said, the Government should respect democracy, people’s sentiment and the Supreme Court directive by holding the much-awaited elections in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Das, who arrived here today along with other two Screening Committee members- Bharat Singh Solanki (AICC general secretary and Incharge J&K affairs of the party) and senior AICC leader Neeraj Dangi (Rajya Sabha MP), for short listing and recommending party candidates for Lok Sabha elections, was talking to media-persons before a closed-door meeting with the 26-member J&K Pradesh Election committee here.
“Modi-led Government should respect democracy, aspirations of the people of J&K and the Supreme Court, which had directed holding of assembly polls before September-end. The election can happen if the Government is willing but I do not see it happening. They have not respected democracy at many places. But it will be good if they hold the Assembly polls here,” the senior AICC leader said.
Das was responding to a question about the party’s preparations for the Assembly elections in the Union Territory. He however, claimed that Congress was fully prepared for Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
Last month, the Congress announced five screening committees for recommending party candidates for Lok Sabha elections. The party has grouped States and Union Territories in five clusters.
“The Cluster-IV Screening Committee is covering almost all of north India. We had a first round with the Pradesh Congress and today we will go into some technicalities like how to fight the next Lok Sabha election and the alliance partners. We will submit our report to the five-member alliance/screening committee which was constituted for the purpose,” Das said.
Committee Chairman said a dialogue is going on with the alliance partners to address any confusion. “We are not a decision-making committee for this. That is not our domain. We are for technical work while the political negotiation and finalisation of candidates (with alliance partners) will be done by a separate committee headed by Mukul Vasnik.”
He claimed that INDIA bloc is very important for J&K UT and the country and all the alliance partners must move together.
Earlier, after arrival at Jammu airport, the AICC Screening Committee members were accorded warm reception by the JKPCC members. From there, they straightway moved to the venue of meeting, in a private hotel on Residency Road. The meeting started at around 12 noon and ended at around 5.30 pm.
The members took feed back from state level screening committee members. Majority of the members supported seat sharing formula with alliance partners NC and PDP in J&K. The technical issues at different Lok Sabha seats were also discussed. The Chairman also met each member separately and sought their opinion with regard to strong candidates for Udhampur-Doda, Jammu-Reasi, Rajouri-Anantnag, Srinagar and Baramulla Lok Sabha seats.
The State level committee had prepared lists of 5 member panel of strong contenders for each seat in J&K. Prospectus of each candidates were discussed. The team has been tasked to short list the candidates and discuss all the technical and other issues for each seat and then forwards their report to the party high Command.
Insiders in the party revealed that G A Mir, Raman Bhalla, Tara Chand, Vikar Rasool Wani, Tariq Hamid Karra, Balbir Singh and Peerzada Mohd Sayeed are among the front runners for the five Lok Sabha seats in the Jammu and Kashmir.
The Central AICC team left for Union capital late in the evening. Mir and Karra could not attend meet being out of state.
Prominent among those present included- PCC chief Vikar Rasool Wani, working president, Raman Bhalla, former DyCM Tara Chand, former Minister Mula Ram, JKPCC chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma and Yogesh Sawhney.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
