Congress may field heavyweights in MP polls

Bhopal: Congress may field its heavyweights in Madhya Pradesh in the year-end assembly polls in the wake of its principal contender for power in the state, BJP, adopting the similar strategy.

The indication came at the screening committee meeting of the party held in Delhi on Tuesday, sources said.

According to a senior party functionary, the AICC leadership is toying with the idea of pitting its senior leaders against the heavyweights of BJP fielded by the saffron party in the assembly constituencies that have currently been held by Congress.

“The new strategy by BJP to field its seven MPs including three Union ministers and a national general secretary in the seats held by Congress has taken the grand old party by surprise, forcing it to revisit its poll plan.

The Congress is now planning to field its senior leaders in the polls not only to retain its seats but also wrest some seats from the saffron party in the polls”, the Congress leader said on Wednesday, unwilling to be quoted.

The party leadership which was planning to keep state Congress chief Kamal Nath out of contest in the ensuing assembly elections to ensure that he focused on executing the strategy of the party in the polls, is now seriously considering fielding him in the elections in the changed scenario, sources said.

The party is also planning to field former Union minister Arun Yadav in the polls, sources said.

However, it was yet to be decided if the party would field any of its Rajya Sabha members from MP in the polls.

Meanwhile, Congress RS MP Vivek Tankha has clarified that he is not keen to contest in the year-end assembly polls because of his preoccupation with other works.

Sources said that the screening committee of the party which met on Tuesday discussed the prospective candidates in around 80 of total 230 assembly seats of them 65 are sitting MLAs.