Cong candidates for HP likely to be announced this week

Shimla: To finalise the panel of candidates for four parliamentary seats of Shimla (SC), Hamirpur, Kangra and Mandi, the five-member screening committee of Congress held its meeting in Delhi on Sunday. The committee will send the panel to Central Election Committee for final decision. Candidates are likely to be announced this week.

Sources in Congress said that the screening committee meeting was chaired by AICC general secretary K C Venugopal and was attended by AICC incharge for state Rajni Patil, co-incharge Gurkirat Singh Kotli, state Congress president Kuldeep Singh Rathore and Congress Legislature Party leader Mukesh Agnihotri.

Sources also said that for Kangra parliamentary seat, three names — former minister Sudhir Sharma, former minister G S Bali and AICC secretary and Dalhousie MLA Asha Kumari — are being considered. For Hamirpur seat, former state president Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Abhishek Rana are being discussed.

For Mandi parliamentary seat, names of former minister Kaul Singh Thakur and Shimla (rural) MLA Vikramaditya Singh were discussed while for Shimla (SC) seat names of Solna MLA Col Dhani Ram Shandil and Amit Nanda were discussed.

In 2014, BJP had won all four seats and Congress had faced a crushing defeat. This time to win all four parliamentary seats, Congress has already launched “Mission 2019” campaign.

Congress had invited applications for tickets from interested candidates but the candidates being considered now, except for Abhishek Rana, Col Dhani Ram Shandil and Amit Nanda, are those who have not applied for the ticket.