Cong, RJP name candidates

Raghavji Patel was a Youth Congress member before he joined the RJP to become a minister and rejoined the Congress recently. He has a wide and committed following all these years irrespective of the party he joined or quit.

RJP leader Manubhai Rathod in Rajkot said his party would field former MLA Haribhai Jogi for Jetpur. The name for Jodia-Dhrol seat was not finalised till evening but Jagmohan Solanki and Jorubha Sodha had filed papers on Thursday. According to RJP national co-ordinator Vishnu Pandya, Solanki might be in the fray. Reports reaching here from Rajkot said Chittaranjandas Datta was named covering candidate for this seat.

Another party leader Deepak Madlani stated that campaign plan would be decided at a party meeting in Rajkot on Saturday to be chaired by Shankarsinh Vaghela.

Meanwhile, GPCC president C D Patel has predicted victory for the party candidates as the popular mood, he claimed, was tilting in favour of the Congress. He said the Congress would back the people in their struggle against price rise as the government was reduced to a mute spectator.

About the party setup in the State, he said it would be completed by the month end after consulting district in-charges. AICC general secretary V Narayanswamy, who had come here on Wednesday night to attend the party meeting, had to rush to Pondicherry on receiving the news of death of his close relative.

Patel chaired the meeting in Narayanswamy8217;s absence. He said a membership registration drive would be carried out from February 8 to 14 where party leaders would go into the interiors to enroll members and secure subscriptions to the AICC journal Congress Sandesh.