Tariq Anwar, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in charge of Kerala, has said that at least 50% of the party candidates in the ensuring Assembly election will be young faces and women.
“I can assure you that 50% of the candidates will be new faces. Senior people working for the party and their constituency will also be considered,” he said at a media interaction held at the District Congress Committee here on Wednesday.
Mr. Anwar said that the process of finalising the candidates would start in a week. The election committee appointed by the party leadership will decide on the selection process.
Flays case
The Congress leader termed the cases registered against the Aiswarya Kerala Yatra led by Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennitha for violation of pandemic protocol as ‘politically-motivated’. The Prime Minister and Home Minister of the country are attending rallies at various places in the country. The guidelines should be applicable to all and not for one party, he said.
On allegations that the Congress was playing the communal card by raking up the Sabarimala women's entry issue ahead of the elections, Mr. Anwar said that the party ideology remained clear on the issue as it had tried to take every community along with it for long.
‘Unholy alliance’
The AICC general secretary alleged that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had entered into an unholy alliance to defeat the Congress. “The BJP’s claim that the Congress would be routed in the State would never be fulfilled,” he said.
Mr. Anwar said that the ideology of the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) were on similar lines. “The State unit of the party should consider joining hands with the Congress,” he said.
The AICC general secretary said that a communication gap, especially among the minorities and in general had led to the defeat of the United Democratic Front in the local body elections. “We have started clearing it by holding talks with a cross-section of people,” he said.
