Guwahati, Feb 20 (PTI) Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday concluded her two-day visit to Assam after holding a series of meetings with senior party functionaries to finalise candidates for the upcoming assembly elections.
Vadra, who arrived in the state on Thursday, met leaders from across the state and held deliberations till around 3 am to gather feedback on prospective candidates.
“I met people individually. I feel that in that way, I can get better feedback. We worked till late in the night. We will be coming again and meeting people,” she told reporters.
Vadra held separate meetings with the political affairs committee, MLAs, district presidents, heads of frontal organisations, legislature party leaders, MPs, cell heads and booth committee chiefs, among others.
She said members of the screening committee, Lok Sabha MPs Imran Masood, Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, and Sirivella Prasad, had visited all districts and interacted with party workers at various levels.
“We have tried to carry out this exercise in a better way,” she said, concluding her first visit to the state ahead of the polls.
Vadra is chairperson of the party’s screening committee for the Assam elections, which are expected to be held in March-April.
The Wayanad MP visited Rajiv Bhawan, the state Congress headquarters, earlier in the day and held discussions with the party’s three working presidents.
State Congress president Gaurav Gogoi had on Wednesday said the first list of candidates is likely to be released by the end of this month, with a total of around 80 nominees expected to be announced by the first week of March.
During her visit, Vadra also released a 20-point “charge sheet” against the BJP-led government in the state, alleging corruption and accusing the administration of using state machinery to instil fear among minorities.
The Congress has appointed Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and former Jharkhand MLA Bandhu Tirkey as the senior observers for the polls.
At present, the ruling BJP holds 64 seats in the 126-member House. Its allies AGP, UPPL and BPF have nine, seven and three MLAs, respectively.
In the opposition camp, the Congress has 26 MLAs, while the AIUDF has 15 and the CPI(M) has one member. There is also one Independent legislator in the Assembly. PTI TR TR SOM
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