The Congress that has been thriving to return to power in Madhya Pradesh has left behind the ruling BJP in deciding the tickets in the ensuing Assembly polls.
In a meeting of Congress election committee held in New Delhi on Saturday, the high command finally decided 70 tickets. The next meeting is scheduled on September 18. All members of the committee including Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kamal Nath, Digvijay Singh, Kantilal Bhuria and Ajay Singh were present in the meeting.
In the meeting held at Haryana Bhavan, the committee gave nod to giving tickets to 70 candidates. Out of them, 63 are sitting Congress legislators and seven leaders are those who had lost the last Assembly polls in the year 2008 with less than 1,000 votes. These names have been sent to the screening committee.
However, the committee members were of the view that those lost elections with less than 2,000 votes should be given tickets, but consensus could not be reached because the number of such candidates would be much higher. It was also decided in the meeting that those candidates who had lost last election with more than 10,000 votes would not be given ticket at any cost.
The strategy in the campaigning for elections was also discussed in the meeting. It was decided that the claims of the BJP should be exposed through social media. The slogans and promises to be made before public, were also discussed. The main focus was as how the fresh face of the Congress should be brought before public. The next meeting related to elections is scheduled on September 18, but the venue is yet to be decided. Party sources claimed that the meting might be held in Bhopal.
Notably, former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh was in Raipur to participate in a programme, but he received a message to reached Delhi soon and he attended the meeting reaching on time. This clearly indicates that despite not having been inducted in any committee, the high command still wants his interference in the matters related to Madhya Pradesh, sources added.