A day-long meeting of senior Congress politicians from the states today called for early selection of candidates and identification of the seats to be contested by the party in alliance with other like-minded parties in the Lok Sabha election.
At the meeting convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to discuss poll preparedness and strategy, pradesh Congress committee presidents and Congress legislature party leaders from across the country expressed the view that the candidates be selected well in advance and the seats be identified to enable them to campaign effectively.
All CLP leaders, including chief ministers and the state unit presidents, made detailed presentations on the electoral preparedness in their respective states and suggestions to defeat the National Democratic Alliance government, chief spokesman S Jaipal Reddy told reporters later.
They welcomed Gandhi's 'bold initiatives' to forge alliances with like-minded parties in various states and suggested that talks be started with potential parties "as early as possible". But a suggestion by some that the process of selection of candidates be completed by January 23 was rejected as impractical.
All Congress chief ministers except A K Antony (Kerala), Sushilkumar Shinde (Maharashtra), and D D Lapang (Meghalaya) attended the meeting.
Asked if PCC and CLP leaders from Karnataka and Maharashtra suggested advancing the assembly elections in the two states, Reddy said the subject was not discussed. The chief ministers of these states will decide in due course, he said.
Reddy said that even in states where the Congress is strong, it will hold talks with smaller parties to accommodate them. He cited the example of Andhra Pradesh in this regard.
In Jharkhand, he said, the possibility of the Congress contesting with a friendly party is "bright". In Karnataka, where the Congress is the ruling party, he said no decision has been taken on the participation of smaller parties in an alliance.
The party's likely tie-up with the Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra, Reddy said, was a "different issue" as the two parties have been partners in a coalition for more than fours years.
The chief spokesman, who also attended the meeting, said no leader suggested that the party go it alone in the forthcoming election.
About the response of the leaders of 'like-minded' political parties whom Gandhi met recently, he said, "She met leaders of various political parties with a flexible approach to maximise the unity of like-minded forces and optimise the result." He said the discussions were "exploratory" and the response had been warm.
He said no suggestion was made at the meeting to draft Priyanka Vadra into active politics. There was no discussion either on the guidelines for selection of candidates, but the parameters are already fixed and include "character" and "winnability".
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