MPCC to finalise new state committee in 1 month

Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Manikrao Thakre today said that he would finalise his new state executive committee in a month's time.

Thakre, who first became state unit president in August 2007, was recently re-nominated by the AICC.

He told reporters today that he was in the process of finalising his new team.

"The new team will be a mix of new faces but it would also retain some old ones and there will be 33%reservation to women," he said.

Speaking about the 'panel system' for municipal corporations and councils, Thakre said the NCP initially had opposed the proposal but later settled for a panel of four wards in municipal councils and two for corporations excluding Mumbai.

According to him, active and efficient male political activists might not get opportunities to test electoral waters if his locality is declared as a reserved ward and hence, he proposed the idea of panel system.

To a question as to why the Mumbai municipal corporation was excluded, he said wards in Mumbai are large in terms of population and there was no demand from anybody.