Screening committee of the All India Congress Committee assembled on Tuesday in New Delhi to evaluate and shortlist the bundle of names sent there for fanalisation. With this the party leading the coalition in the State for the Lok Sabha polls has also made the dust to settle for the seat sharing among its partners.
Top sources in the party informed The Pioneer that the committee would report the names to the AICC’s apex election panel within a week or 10 days. “The screening committee met at 3.30 pm today where all the names forwarded from the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) were discussed and examined. Lastly three names for each seat would be sent to the election committee of the party for finalisation,” said a senior party leader.
The screening committee examined the names forwarded to it by the district level Congress committees which had compiled the candidatures coming to it.
“The list is quite long which has been sent to the committee by the district president through the PCC. Top three names would be evaluated by the AICC’s selection panel within a week or fortnight,” said the office bearer.
It is also learnt that the Congress, after conducting the successful rally of its national president Rahul Gandhi in Ranchi, has gone ahead approving the seat sharing formula among the constituents of the grand alliance. The exercise is being considered important since the issue has emerged as bone of contention for the partners of the UPA in the State.
“It has been finalised that the JVM would settle for two seats namely Koderma and Godda. The JMM has already being offered four seats which are Rajmahal, Dumka, Giridih and Khunti. RJD’s claim is yet to be settled and they have been told to choose between Chatra and Palamu. One of these including the six other would fall into the Congress kitty,” said a top source into the party.
Moreover the seat sharing formula has left parties like the RJD and the Left into quandary. At one hand they are sensing the urgency to gel together in order to handle the mighty and resurgent BJP but keeping their party cadres intact is also a challenge. “We are trying to bargain and press hard for both the seats. We have substantial claims over those. Our preparations are in advanced stages at Palamu and Godda. Let’s see what happens,” said Jharkhand RJD president Annapurna Devi.
The issue has snowballed in the State when the polls are not far away. Annapurna Devi despite being invited to share dais with the Congress national president on March 2, opted to skip it. Also, JMM executive president Hemant Soren sent a representative in the form of MLA Stephen Marandi.
Soren is said to be unhappy with the Congress for not declaring in clear terms him as the face of the coalition in the State which is to undergo into Assembly elections from six months of the parliamentary polls.