Buoyed by the success of the party in Uttarakhand bypolls, the Congress on Friday initiated the election process in poll-bound Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and J&K by constituting screening committees for selecting candidates. Haryana is ruled by the party on its own, the three others have alliance Governments.
Former Union Minister Mallikarjun Kharge will head the five-member Screening Committee for Maharashtra where the Congress-NCP alliance is now on shaky grounds. AICC spokesperson PC Chacko will chair the Haryana Committee where he has a tough task to handle the rebels. Former Union Minister Jitendra Singh who will head the J&K Screening Committee too has a tough task ahead after its breakup of alliance with NC. Former Union Minister Ajay Maken will face an uphill task in Jharkhand to look for candidates who can win in the most politically unstable State. The panel approved by Congress president Sonia Gandhi has AICC General Secretary and Secretary incharge for the States concerned, the ClP leaders and PCC Chiefs as other members.
For Maharashtra, AICC general secretary Mohan Prakash and Secretary Deepak Babaria and PCC chief Manikrao Thakre are other members. The Haryana screening committee will have Manek Tagore, Shakeel Ahmad, Chief Minister and ClP leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda and PCC president Ashok Tanwar on board.
The other members of the Jharkhand committee are AICC general secretary incharge BK Hariprasad, AICC secretary Suraj Hegde, ClP leader Rajinder Prasad Singh and PCC chief Sukhdev Bhagat. For J&K, the other members are Shubhankar Sarkar, AICC General Secretary incharge Ambika Soni, ClP leader of J and K Assembly and PCC President Saifuddin Soz.