Lok Sabha polls: Cong to field 9 sitting MPs in state

The committee meeting conducted preliminary discussions on what strategies should be adopted by the Congress for the Parliament polls and it was suggested by the state in-charge that persons with criminal records should be kept out while youngsters and new faces who have been in the Congress for more than five years and who have worked in the constituencies should be given tickets.

The two-and-a-half-hour meeting discussed shortlists of candidates based on reports created by the state Congress unit,a team of central observers that visited the state during the Assembly elections,inputs of senior leaders and reports from local units,Congress sources said.

“The situation was analysed with respect to the last elections when (B S) Yeddyurappa was in the BJP. All caste equations were considered. The possibility of fielding women candidates was considered. The senior leaders in the election committee advised the Chief Minister and the state party president,who will be responsible for the poll outcome,to hold more detailed discussions in the coming days. The Chief Minister and the state president will go to Delhi on Monday for some more discussions,’’ the sources said.

A coordination committee meeting that was also scheduled for Saturday could not be held because Digvijaya Singh had to travel for a meeting on Telangana called by the Congress president,they said.

Meetings of the coordination committee and the election committee of the Karnataka Congress were scheduled to prepare for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The meetings were intended to come up with a list of probable candidates for the Lok Sabha polls to be placed before the AICC leadership in Delhi.

Among the key new faces set to figure in the Congress shortlists is former top Infosys executive Nandan Nilekani,the current UIDAI chairman,for the Bangalore South constituency. Congress sources said Nilekani’s name was at the top of the list for the Bangalore South constituency.

Karnataka is among the states in the country that the Congress is hoping to do well in the parliament polls after recently coming to power in the state. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is targeting a victory in 22 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state. In the 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha polls,the Congress had won eight and six seats respectively.