Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President G Parameshwara have left for New Delhi where they will attend a meeting with AICC leaders on Monday to discuss preparations for the Lok Sabha elections and also start the process of shortlisting party candidates.
The duo will brief AICC Election Coordination Committee on the political scene in the State and the party’s preparations in the run-up to the polls. Election Coordination Committee members Madhusudan Mistry, Janardhan Dwivedi and Digvijay Singh (also the AICC General Secretary in-charge of Karntaka) will be present, party sources said.
AICC has received a list of probable candidates from the party observers from all the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in the State. The central leaders will discuss the list, that has four to five names for each constituency, with Parameshwara and Siddaramaiah.
At the State election committee meeting in Bangalore on Saturday, the party had come out with guidelines for selection of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls. The panel members were of the view that party hoppers and new entrants should not be given priority over loyal workers. In the light of the Congress’ debacle in the Assembly polls in four states, the party is also likely to rework its election strategy, the sources added.
The party will be convening another round of the State election committee in Bangalore this month.
Parameshwara and Siddaramaiah have also sought appointment to meet AICC President Sonia Gandhi and her deputy Rahul Gandhi during their stay in the national capital.
They are keen to get a go-ahead from central leadership for appointing chairpersons to various boards and corporations, the sources said.