New Delhi: Eyeing the assembly polls in Kerala, the Congress on Tuesday announced a 10-member Election Management and Strategy Committee under the leadership of former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy as its chairperson along with senior party members like Shashi Tharoor and K. C. Venugopal.
Venugopal, who is the party's General Secretary (Organisations) in a statement said that party chief Sonia Gandhi has approved the appointment of Election Management and Strategy Committee of Kerala Congress for the upcoming assembly elections with immediate effect.
He further said that the Committee shall meet frequently to discuss matters related to electioneering, coordination and formulation of election strategies.
Besides Chandy, Tharoor and Venugopal, the party has also named Mullapallay Ramachandran, Ramesh Chennithala, Tariq Anwar, K. Muraleedharan, V.M. Sudheeran, K. Sudhakaran and Kodikkunnil Suresh as the panel members.
The committee will also prepare strategies for the election. The Congress high command is likely to announce the party screening committee, election committee, campaign committee and the candidate selection committee soon.
The Congress is likely to select those who enjoy strong public support as candidates for the election. The high command has instructed the Kerala leadership to give more representation to youngsters and women. Moreover, the Congress state leadership has been instructed to take community equations into consideration while deciding on candidates.
The high command had directed the state leaders to work together. The chief minister candidate will be announced after a discussion with MLAs once the results are declared.
(With inputs from IANS)
