Punjab Congress on Tuesday made it amply clear to its sitting MlAs that they will be allocated party ticket to contest 2017 polls only after evaluating their performance.
“The performance of all party legislators will be assessed before nominating them to contest the 2017 Assembly elections in the State,” said Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh, while responding to a question during his ‘Halqe vich Captain’ programme at Bhadaur in Barnala.
Capt Amarinder said that ‘winnability’ will be the only criterion for selecting the candidates.
The former chief minister also agreed with the party workers’ suggestion that their opinion should be taken before nominating a candidate from a particular constituency.
“You will suggest as who will be the right candidate for the contest and we will recommend him to the party high command and the final decision will be taken by the Congress president Sonia Gandhi,” he said while asking them that it will be responsibility of each and every Congressman to ensure their victory.
Capt Amarinder, responding to a query about ‘declaration forms’ sought from aspirants that they will not contest against the official nominees, the party president said that there was nothing wrong about it as loyalty and discipline are pre-requisite conditions for strengthening the party.
On the reason that necessitated self-declaration affidavit, Capt Amarinder said: “Given the massive response the party was getting, everybody expected Congress to form the government (in Punjab) and with the result there were lot of party ticket aspirants.”
The party will ensure this time that there were no rebels as all those who do not get the tickets will be accommodated in the government, he said.
During 2012 assembly polls, at least 22 rebels had damaged the prospects of Congress in the last 2012 assembly polls.