The election committee of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) held its meeting on Friday on selection of candidates for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections and senior leaders are believed to have expressed displeasure on selection of probable candidates by Ministers, who are appointed as coordinators for 28 constituencies in the State.
Sources said the Ministers have been told to provide detailed explanation on selection of probable candidates by Saturday evening. If Ministers fail to provide a convincing explanation, the party decided to hold another round of discussion with MLAs, district and block-level leaders to select candidates, sources said.
With regard to fielding of Ministers in the elections, the committee has authorised the screening committee of the AICC to take a final decision.
The senior leaders reportedly complained that Ministers have selected candidates who are loyal to them and not on the basis of winnable criteria, sources said.
Mr. Surjewala said candidates are expected to be finalised by January end.
The party is believed to have no winning candidates in nearly a dozen Parliamentary constituencies. Moreover, the Ministers have not shown much interest in contesting elections, sources in the party said.
The KPCC meeting, attended by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister and KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar, AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala, Ministers, central observers of the party, senior leaders M. Veerappa Moily, B.K. Hariprasad and Margaret Alva, discussed party’s plans ahead of Lok Sabha elections.
Series of events
It decided to hold a series of public events such as conventions and rallies in each district and Legislative Assembly constituency to reach out to voters, particularly beneficiaries of five guarantees, ahead of parliament elections in April-May.
It has also planned to strengthen booth level committees to bring voters to booth on the voting day.
The party has decided to hold a mega State-level convention of party workers in Mangaluru on Sunday and all senior leaders, including AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge, are expected to participate.
