Bhubaneswar: Congress may announce names of some party candidates for the 2019 assembly elections in the next 15-30 days, party’s Odisha in-charge Jitender Singh told the media here, Sunday.
Singh, who was on a three-day tour to the state to hold an array of meetings with the state leadership besides his plans to rake up the Rafale deal row in the state to corner the BJP government at the Centre, Sunday hinted at an early announcement of names of some of the party leaders for the upcoming elections in the state.
“We have the meeting of the state election committee Monday where we will decide what should be the criteria for giving tickets and very shortly, may be within 15 days or one month, we will announce the list of some candidates who will be fighting the 2019 elections,” Singh said.
This comes a day after a brainstorming session of the state leadership and Singh with the Congress President Rahul Gandhi in the national capital put forth the action plan of the party in the state for the coming days. Singh Sunday also exhorted that the party leaders ought to stick to their booths to strengthen the party base in their respective areas.
He said, “We have planned that irrespective of the stature of the party leaders everybody has to get engaged with their booths. It is very important to get attached to their respective booths. We have also decided to do monthly review of the PCC committee. We will ensure the whole thing is done based on performance.”
Singh has already hinted that the selection would be solely based on the performance of the leaders. Some names might be discussed in the meeting Monday.
‘My booth, my pride’ campaign
The Congress has decided to embark on a new campaign christened ‘my booth, my pride’ to strengthen the party base during which local leaders would be urged to reach out to the electorate in their areas besides apprising them about the alleged failures of the BJD and the BJP governments. The decision was taken Sunday when the OPCC President Niranjan Patnaik and AICC General Secretary Jitendra Singh met the new office bearers of the party.