Congress to finalize candidates, manifesto by February

With a view to preventing infighting due to ticket distribution the Congress has directed all its state units to expedite the process of candidate selection as well as statewise electoral understanding for the Lok Sabha before this month which shall be then approved by the Congress Election CommitteeThe recent Assembly polls particularly in Rajasthan saw a lot of infighting in the Congress over ticket distribution causing embarrassment to the central leadership Several disgruntled party leaders staged protests and over a dozen contested as independents denting the partys showingIn order to avoid a repeat of a similar situation the state units have been told to expedite the procedure of candidate selection and submit the lists before the month endOne of the major issues discussed during the recent Congress President Rahul Gandhis meeting with general secretaries and state unit chiefs was ticket distributionTicket distribution has always been a contentious issue with all the parties But this time it has been decided that ticket distribution will be finalized only after names recommended are approved All state units will prepare their candidate lists before the end of February a Congress leader who did not want to be identified by name told IANSThe leader also said that the Congress will announce most of its candidates by the end of March allowing them sufficient time to campaign The Lok Sabha election schedule is expected to be announced by the Election Commission in the first week of MarchSoon after the schedule is announced the candidate lists will be published gradually and we expect to complete the process by the end of March said the leaderBesides giving more powers in term of candidate selection the state units have been asked to provide details of local issues and feedback on the central issues that are to be included in the election manifestoAlong with the key issues of unemployment agrarian distress attacks on democratic institutions and Rafale scam suggestions from the Indian diaspora across the globe have also been taken to incorporate their views in the manifesto expected to be released in MarchThe Manifesto Committee comprising key party leaders P Chidambaram Jairam Ramesh Salman Khurshid Shashi Tharoor and Sam Pitroda among others so far has held 176 consultations in 56 cities taking public feedback on the issues to be incorporated in the manifestoAmong the major highlights of the manifesto will be Gandhis mega poll promise of minimum income guarantee With consultations from renowned economists that reportedly include former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan the manifesto will provide the blueprint of the scheme touted by the Congress as a gamechangerInvolving the partys various wings including women students and youth the Congress has also taken the views of transgenders An advocate of transgenders rights Apsara Reddy was appointed the General Secretary of the Congresswomen wing in JanuaryThe party has also been seeking ideas from the public through a dedicated website for the manifesto where netizens can submit their ideas and issuesThe meeting of the CWC the Congress highest decisionmaking body will be held on February 26 in Prime Minister Narendra Modis home state Gujarat The meeting presided over by Rahul Gandhi will also be attended by newlyappointed General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh among othersBesides the strategies and roadmap for the election battle the party leaders will also discuss and chalk out a draft of the Common Minimum Programme CMP of the antiBJP front of opposition partiesFollowing a meeting on February 13 opposition parties decided to have a prepoll pact and Rahul Gandhi was tasked to circulate a draft CMP among the opposition partiesAs has been decided by all the opposition parties earlier the major agenda in the CMP will be unemployment agrarian crisis attacks on democratic institutions and the abuse of central agencies to stifle the opposition and dissenting voices said a Congress leaderCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever