PANJIM: The crucial Congress Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting chaired by AICC president Sonia Gandhi will be held on Tuesday in Delhi to clear the names of candidates for the Goa polls. The meeting will also decide on whether the party will fight the polls in alliance with like-minded parties.
The Congress Screening Committee headed by MP KC Venugopal held its second meeting in Delhi on Monday, which was attended by State Congress President Luizinho Faleiro and Leader of the Opposition Pratapsingh Rane. The committee has cleared names in 30 constituencies but is still undecided on the alliance.
“The CEC meeting will be held on Tuesday in Delhi which will be chaired by Party President Sonia Gandhi,” All India Congress Committee Secretary Girish Chodankar said. He said the list of candidates would be cleared during the meeting, and the announcement is expected later the same evening.
The screening committee, which met in Delhi last week, has gone through the list of aspirants. In the first phase, it has cleared names of six sitting MLAs, and that of party president Faleiro (Navelim) and four former MLAs. In the second phase, the committee is learnt to have cleared the names of 10 young politicians.
Chodankar said the meeting will also decide on the proposed alliance with like-minded parties, including Goa Forward, NCP and United Goans. “The screening committee is still uncertain of an alliance. There is strong lobbying happening for an alliance. The final decision will be taken by Gandhi,” he said.
Congress which governed Goa till 2012 was reduced to single digits in the Assembly in the 2012 Assembly polls.
