From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Feb 5: As the term of the 15th Lok Sabha draws to an end, the ruling Congress party in the State is getting ready to finalise the names of its candidates for 28 seats from Karnataka.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President Dr G Parameshwar are going to Delhi to participate in the screening committee of the party in Delhi on Thursday.
The KPCC Chief and the Chief Minister will be holding discussions with party’s Central leaders on selection of candidates for Lok Sabha constituencies in the State.
Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi, who heads the screening committee for Karnataka, will also be part of the discussions.
Both the leaders would hold discussions with the central party leaders including AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh, who is in-charge of Karnataka and General Secretary Madhusudan Mistry and others.
The discussions in Delhi are aimed at pruning the list of candidates, which was shortlisted by the KPCC's Election Committee.
After the screening committee clears the list, it would be presented to the AICC President Sonia Gandhi for the final stamp of approval.
The Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, who has been named as the party’s national campaign panel chief for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, is also likely to involve himself in the final selection.
The KPCC has already held three rounds of discussions on probable candidates for various constituencies.
All nine incumbent MPs are certain to get tickets to contest elections in their respective constituencies.
In the other 19 constituencies, the KPCC had sent names of probable candidates to the party high command.
The KPCC had sent names of two or three probable candidates for the 19 constituencies and it would be the task of the Screening Committee to narrow down the choices.
The State Congress leaders are keen for early selection of candidates to step up poll campaign before rival political parties and fine-tune the campaign strategies.