Congress sets up committees for choosing Assembly poll candidates

Setting its house in order before crucial Assembly elections, Congress on Friday constituted screening committees for initiating the selection process of candidates for poll-bound Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir.

While former Union Minister Mallikarjun Kharge will head the five-member Screening Committee for Maharashtra, its Spokesperson PC Chacko has been made the Chairman of the Haryana Committee. The two states are scheduled to go to polls in October this year.

Former Union Ministers Jitendra Singh and Ajay Maken have been made the Screening Committee Chairmen for Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir respectively, where Assembly elections are due early next year.

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 President Manikrao Thakre are other members of the screening panel.

For Haryana, the screening committee members are Manek Tagore, AICC General Secretary incharge Shakeel Ahmad, Chief Minister and CLP leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda and PCC President Ashok Tanwar.

For Jharkhand, the other members of the committee are AICC General Secretary incharge B K Hariprasad, AICC Secretary Suraj Hegde, CLP leader Rajinder Prasad Singh and PCC President Sukhdev Bhagat.

For Jammu and Kashmir, the other members of the panel are Shubhankar Sarkar, AICC General Secretary incharge Ambika Soni, CLP leader of J and K Assembly and PCC President Saifuddin Soz.