Patna, September 15: Feeling an urgent need to play a vital role in government formation after the Assembly elections, the Congress has decided to present better candidates to enable it become a king maker, if not the king, in Bihar.
The Congress would announce names of its candidates on September 20-21.
The first major exercise for selection of probable candidates was completed with the party short-listing about 8,000 names after taking into consideration factors like their clean background and winning ability.
”The state election committee, after a marathon meeting, has short-listed the probable candidates. The focus will now shift to New Delhi where central screening committee would further trim down the list before placing it to the central election committee,” spokesman of Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee(BPCC) Ajit Pratap Singh said.
”It would then be placed before Congress president Sonia Gandhi for her final approval,” he said.
Mr Singh said the party had given due consideration for better representation of all sections of the society, including women and youth, while making the list of probable candidates.
Mr Singh said one observer each from outside the state would coordinate election work in all the 243 assembly seats.
The Congress had only nine seats in the outgoing Assembly.
Observers felt the party appeared to have galvanised itself after the successful launching of campaign by All India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi in the state from Saharsa and Samastipur early this month.
–UNI