2012 polls: Finally,Cong forms panel for selecting candidates

The six-member screening committee will be chaired by Mohan Prakash,AICC general secretary in charge of Maharashtra,Gujarat and J&K. The other members of the committee include AICC general secretary from Gujarat Madhusudan Mistry,Congress MP from Orissa and AICC secretary Bhakta Charan Das, AICC general secretary and UP in-charge Digvijaya Singh,state president Rita Bahuguna Joshi and state legislature leader of the party Pramod Tiwari.

Sources in the party said though Prakash has been an MLA from Rajasthan,he has lived in Varanasi and has studied in Banaras Hindu University (BHU) during mid-70s and is thus well-versed with UP politics. He was also the president of BHU student union in 1975.

Last year,Prakash had landed into controversy following his statement comparing Rahul Gandhi with socialist leader Jai Prakash Narayan. Then,Prakash was AICC spokesperson. However,irrespective of his statement,he was included in the Congress working committee this year and given charge of three states. Mistry,also in-charge of Kerala,was one of the 10 observers appointed by Rahul Gandhi for UP last year. Mistry has already submitted his report on probable candidates in 40 constituencies to Rahul Gandhi.

While two meetings of the Congress election committee have already taken place in Lucknow in the presence of Rahul Gandhi,the list of probable candidates would now be placed before the screening committee.