Congress panel sends 300 names to CEC

The Congress screening committee which met in New Delhi has sent nearly 300 names to the Central Election Committee (CEC) for consideration. The meeting which went on for more than seven hours is likely to announce the first list with nearly 35 to 40 candidates comprising senior leaders like TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy, CEC member Uttam Kumar Reddy and CLP leader Bhatti Vikramarka among others.

In constituencies with multiple aspirants, the candidates will be selected based on survey reports and inputs from the team led by poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu. The demand for reserving two seats for BC community candidates in each parliamentary constituency is learnt to have been discussed in the meeting.

The meeting further discussed adequate representation to the Youth Congress, NSUI and women.

In Hyderabad, the TS Congress manifesto committee met at Gandhi Bhavan to draft the party document for the state elections.

TS Congress manifesto committee chairman D. Sridhar Babu challenged ministers K.T. Rama Rao and T. Harish Rao and BRS leaders to tour Karnataka with him to see the status of the implementation of promises by the Congress there.

Addressing the media at Gandhi Bhavan, he said, "We are implementing our promises 100 per cent. The BRS leaders can go and ask the women in Karnataka about the promises. This will enlighten the BRS on the actual status."

He accused the BRS of cheating the people and failing to keep its promises. "We will collect



the opinions of the people by touring the state to finalise our manifesto," Sridhar Babu said after the meeting.

As the meeting was underway some DSC and contract lecturers met the committee to seek inclusion of their demands. The DSC aspirants said the state government had announced only 5,000 teacher posts as opposed to the 13,000 vacancies that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had announced in the Assembly. The fishermen's community sought exclusive ownership of ponds.

Responding to the demand, Sridhar Babu, announced that the party would announce a mega DSC once it came to power. The committee is inviting various organisations to elicit their opinions.

"We will inform the district Congress committees who will inform stakeholders and allow them to give their opinions. The district and Assembly constituencies will have manifestos that are tailor-made for local needs," he said.

To claims of the BRS and the BJP that the Congress’ six promises would burden the state Budget, Sridhar Babu said the government had enough finances to support the schemes. "What we need is financial discipline. Our manifesto will have promises which we can implement without fail," he said. "The BRS government is not paying the salaries of its employees on time. We will ensure they get salaries on the first of every month."

Former Manakondur MLA Arepalli Mohan who resigned from the BRS will join the Congress soon, Sridhar Babu added.