Thiruvananthapuram: As Lok Sabha polls round the corner, Kerala is all set to witness a tight competiton between the Congress and BJP. Congress on Friday constituted five screening committees for shortlisting candidates. The party has divided all states and Union territories into five clusters for this purpose.
Meanwhile, the BJP state committee confirmed that it will name the candidates in major constituencies before January 27.
According to reports, BJP has started preparing a shortlist of the candidates ahead of the statewide Padayatra led by state president K Surendran. The NDA rally will commence from Kasaragod on January 27. The statewide event aims to gain support from the voters by showcasing the development in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Manorama News reported that the saffron party will form election committees in all constituencies of the state soon.
Sources confirmed that the BJP will field Suresh Gopi in Thrissur, Union Minister V Muraleedharan in Attingal and Sri Krishna Kumaran in Palakkad. The party leadership will take a decision on crucial seats like Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta and Mavelikkara constituencies before December 27, reported Manorama News.
At the same time, Congress formed screening committees a day after top leaders held a meeting to discuss the party's strategy for the Lok Sabha elections. All India Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge constituted the screening committees, according to a party statement.
In the cluster comprising Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Lakshadweep and Puducherry, Harish Chaudhary has been appointed as the screening committee chairperson with Jignesh Mevani and Viswajeet Kadam as its members. MLA Shafi Parambil is also a member of the committee.
For Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, Odisha, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Madhusudan Mistry has been made the panel chief. Suraj Hegde and Shafi Parambil will be its members.
For Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Rajani Patil has been appointed as the chairperson of the screening committee with Krishna Allavuru and Pargat Singh as its members.
Bhakta Charan Das has been appointed as the chairman of the screening committee for the cluster comprising Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Party leaders Neeraj Dangi and Yashomati Thakur have been appointed as members of this committee.
Party leader from Punjab Rana K P Singh has been appointed the chairperson of the screening committee for the cluster comprising Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim.
Jaivardhan Singh and Ivan D'Souza have been appointed as members of this panel.
According to the party statement, all general secretaries, in-charges, state party chiefs, Congress Legislature Party leaders, and AICC secretary in-charges for states/UTs have been appointed as ex-officio members of the respective committees.
(With PTI inputs)
