Cong sets up screening panels for poll-bound states

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday constituted screening committees for poll-bound states and appointed senior party leader Madhusudan Mistry as the chairperson of the panel on Madhya Pradesh and Rajya Sabha MP Selja for the post in Rajasthan.

Party's chief whip in Rajya Sabha Bhubaneshwar Kalita will chair the screening committee for Chhattisgarh, while Luizinho Faleiro will head the same for Mizoram.

A Congress statement said party leader V D Satheesan will chair the panel for Odisha. The panel will have Jitin Prasada and Naushad Solanki as members.

These committees will screen the party candidates for the Assembly elections in these states and will recommend the names of candidates, which will finally be cleared by the central election committee chaired by the Congress president, it said.

Netta D'Souza and Ajay Kumar Lallu will be members of the panel for Madhya Pradesh and Lalitesh Tripathi and Shakir Sanadi will be part of the Rajasthan committee.

The statement said Rohit Chaudhary and Ashvinbhai Kotwal will be members of the panel for Chhattisgarh.

While Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram go to polls later this year, Odisha will have election early next year.

With the state Assembly elections nearing, the Congress chief has geared up the party machinery to plan its strategy in time.