Jumbo panel to interview Cong hopefuls from today

While the last day of submission of forms was January 9,the deadline was extended by a day. In all,over 850 aspiring candidates in the have submitted forms at Congress Bhavan eyeing a Congress ticket.

Some prominent names that figure on the selection panel are Forest Minister Patangrao Kadam,Minister for Cooperation Harshwardhan Patil,Ulhas Pawar,Vinayak Nimhan,Mohan Joshi,Deepti Chowdhary,Aba Bagul,Ramesh Bagwe and Rohit Tilak. The jumbo panel will also include presidents of the district Youth Congress,district Congress Women’s Wing,district NSUI,INTUC and district president of the minorities wing.

Besides,block presidents of the respective blocks for which candidates are being interviewed will also be included in the respective sessions.

“There have been about 25 panelists. The list of selected candidates will be sent to Congress state unit for for approval,” said Chhajed.

Meanwhile,the Congress Bhavan is ready for the interviews scheduled to begin on Thursday morning. Anticipating a power show that is a usual feature of the interview sessions,barricades have been laid around the venue.

A tent has been pitched for supporters of ticket aspirants. The interviews will be conducted in two sessions,from 9.30 am to 1 pm and then from 3 pm,which may stretch to late evening.

It might,however,take some time for the final list of candidates to be announced announced,given the likelihood of rebels who may crop up for denial of candidature who work against the party and their numbers may be large,as seen in the previous elections,said a party member.