New Delhi, Feb 6 (IANS): The Congress has announced its Maharashtra state unit with a parliamentary board, giving it the autonomy to decide on alliance and selection of candidates, which till date were prerogatives of the All India Congress Committee (AICC).

The revival of parliamentary board at the AICC level had been the demand of the group of 23 leaders, who had written to interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi in August last year seeking sweeping reforms in the party .

The process of reviving the parliamentary board has started in the states, which is a positive sign, said one of the signatories.

The parliamentary board can only be constituted after the election to select a new Congress President takes place in May or June this year.

The Maharashtra unit has been asked to sort out the issues at the state and district levels by itself.

The Congress leaders who wrote to Sonia Gandhi had asked to give more powers to the state organisations. The first signs were seen in West Bengal where a state leaders' committee was constituted to finalise the seat-sharing arrangement for the forthcoming Assembly polls.