Congress to release 2nd list today

Hyderabad: Several aspirants make last-ditch efforts to lobby in Delhi, as the Congress’s Central Election Commission (CEC) will be holding a meeting on Wednesday. The CEC, which received suggestions for nominations from the Screening Committee for Telangana, will be clearing names of candidates for Assembly elections as part of the second list.

According to sources, the Screening Committee which easily cleared the names for the first list struggled to finalise the second list. It forwarded the latest list with two names in some of the constituencies, making it tough for CEC to zero in on the candidates in the meeting which will be attended by the party’s top leaders including Rahul Gandhi and AICC president, Mallikarjun Kharge. Wednesday’s meeting will be crucial, given the allegations against members of CEC like Nalgonda MP, and N Uttam Kumar Reddy by some seniors.The

Congress is likely to break the candidates into three lists and the 2nd list may contain around half of the remaining 64 seats to avoid further problems within the party. The remaining will be announced after notification of the elections. One of the reasons is that the suggestions from the Screening Committee with single names will be cleared, while those with two or more suggestions will be kept for further deliberations and to avoid dissent within.

The first list which had scores of new faces has triggered insecurity within the seniors that they may miss the chance this time. Besides former ministers Mohammed Ali Shabbir, and G Chinna Reddy, former MPs, Ponnam Prabhakar, Madhu Yashki Goud, PCC working president Mahesh Kumar Goud, new joinees like former minister Tummala Nageswara Rao and former MP Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and scores of others are yet to get tickets. Some of whom landed in Delhi to lobby and as part of last-ditch efforts influence the CEC.

Meanwhile, the Screening Committee which held a series of meetings earlier this week is yet to come to clarity over the seats to be handed over to Left parties. While the CPI has the clarity, the CPM which is seeking the Paleru seat is being challenged by the Congress’s new joinee Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy. While at Kamareddy, Shabbir Ali is likely to miss the chance this time to be the ‘stronger’ candidate to take on Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.

On Tuesday, in the wake of former MP V Hanumantha Rao’s statements against Uttam Kumar Reddy on October 22, the AICC Secretary Mansoor Ali Khan warned the leaders of stringent action. "Any differences in the party regarding the allotment of Assembly tickets should be discussed internally and resolved amicably,” the leader suggested

He said that consultations regarding finalisation of names for tickets are in progress. It will take some more time to arrive at a consensus. Khan asked the ticket aspirants and party leaders to stop making comments against party leadership until the release of the next list of party candidates.