New Delhi, December 15
The Congress today decided to give ticket for the ensuing Assembly polls to 14 of its 15 MLAs in Punjab.
All MLAs along with the PCC chief, Capt Amarinder Singh, were in the Capital today to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, who has not formally applied for the Assembly ticket, was also present.
AICC sources said the party had not yet cleared the name of Mr Amrik Singh Dhillon (Samrala) following allegations of corruption against him. They said the AICC was looking into the complaints against the MLA and a decision would be taken later. The name of Mr Dhanwant Singh, Independent MLA from Dhuri, who has been associated with the Congress and is a member of the PCC, has also not been cleared for the party ticket. Sources said the Congress Legislature Party had passed a resolution against giving him ticket for siding with the SAD-BJP government in the state on certain issues.
Sources said the sitting MLAs were likely to be repeated from the constituencies they were representing. The names were cleared by the Congress President to enable the MLAs to start their campaign.
Mrs Gandhi, who has not so far addressed an election rally in Punjab, is likely to visit the state on January 5. Her visit will coincide with the completion of constituency-wise rallies by the state Congress.
The party’s state election committee is scheduled to meet in the next few days to decide preliminary list of candidates for the Assembly seats. The party has received about 1,050 applications for 117 Assembly seats. It is yet to decide on the number of seats to be given to the CPM. The Congress is also likely to have seat adjustments with the CPM. Senior party leaders indicated that the party candidates will be finalised by the month-end.
While the party MLAs met the Congress President in the morning, the PCC chief along with AICC treasurer Motilal Vora and party General Secretary Ambika Soni met Mrs Gandhi in the evening also. Senior leader Manmohan Singh was also present at the meeting.
