Revanth, Uttam for Delhi: Congress likely to pick LS candidates today

Hyderabad: The Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Congress which will be deliberating on the selection of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections is likely to decide on at least eight to ten candidates from Telangana as part of its first list. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, who are the members of the committee, will be taking part in the meeting to be held on Thursday in New Delhi.

According to party sources, the screening committee for Telangana which has already forwarded a list of about 10-candidates to the AICC is ensuring that the right candidates are chosen for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. “Since this is the crucial meeting at the highest level for the finalisation of the candidates, it is most likely that the names of the candidates in the first list may be announced on the next day, if not on the same day. As BJP and BRS have already announced some of the candidates, it is high time that the Congress makes it clear so that the cadre remains more focused on campaign,” said a party leader.

In the latest meeting of the Pradesh Election Committee (PEC) with screening committee for Telangana held at Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s residence on March 1 more than half of the names were cleared. There were also detailed deliberations over the selection of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls. The meeting was attended by the top leaders, including AICC in-charge Deepa Dasmunshi, besides Screening Committee chairperson Harish Chaudhary, Jignesh Mevani and other members.

On Thursday, the CM after laying foundation stone of Elevated Corridor of SH-01 (State Highway also known as Rajiv Rahadari) at Alwal will leave for Delhi along with Uttam. In Delhi, the CEC meeting, which will be chaired by AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge, in which besides Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretary (Org) K C Venugopal and other key leaders like Ambika Soni, Adhir Ranjan will be present.