Cong candidate list may take some more time

The new deadline is April-end and sources within the party said the decision was taken as the party high-command is busy with election in other states. AICC general secretary in-charge of UP,Digvijay Singh,and his deputy Avinash Pandey have additional charge of Assam,where Assembly polls are underway.

So,party leaders said,none of the senior leaders have enough time to discuss the list of UP and observers have been given additional time and responsibility.

The party had appointed 10 observers for UP in

May 2010 to monitor the yatras and also to suggest probable candidates for the next assembly elections. These observers were asked to be in direct touch with the party high-command,especially AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi,and they were instructed not to get influenced by any local pressure.

After having few meetings with Rahul Gandhi last year,these observers were given deadline of March 31 to submit their final report on probables and “winnable” candidates.

The extension ironically comes after the party had announced that it would release the list of their candidates well in advance. State Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi had even said that they would start declaring candidates from July onwards.

“The discussion on the list of candidates from UP would start after second week of May,when party high-command would have some time. So we asked for some more time to do a better job. There are many probable candidates,who wish to showcase their strength. As a result we decided to revisit the 40 Assembly segments under my preview. The idea is that at later stage,no one should complain that they were not given due attention,” said one of the observers.

On the other hand,when asked about their new set of responsibilities,AICC observer,Muzaffar Hussain,who was recently in UP said: “We are here to stay till the elections are over in the state. Our job would not end with submitting the report on probable candidates.” He said he would submit his final report before the last week of April.

Meanwhile,other observers including Bhai Jagtap from Maharastra,who was recently beaten up by one of the ticket seekers are scheduled to re-visit their respective

Assembly areas in the next 20 days. Their extended presence in the state has made some of the local leaders wary,as there are speculations that the party high-command would use these observers to directly manage the activities at the grassroots level.