50 p.c. seats for youth in Cong(I) Orissa list

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 28. The Congress(I) today announced candidates for 141 of the 147 constituencies in Orissa. The Chief Minister, Mr. Hemanand Biswal, has been renominated from the Laikera (ST) seat.

His predecessors, Mr. J. B. Patnaik and Mr. Giridhar Gamang do not figure in the list. Mr. Gamang has refused to contest. Party sources said that Mr. Patnaik, the PCC(I) chief, had reportedly been given a choice from the six seats kept pending.

About 10 sitting MLAs, including two Ministers (Mr. Bhagwat Mohanty and Mr. Raghunath Patnaik), have been denied the ticket while the constituencies of many have been changed. Performance in the post-cyclone relief operations was a main yardstick used by the party leadership.

A third Minister also may not be nominated, according to sources.

The party leadership was apparently keen on fielding Mrs. Nandini Satpathy (former Chief Minister) and Mr. Srikant Jena (former Union Minister). But both are learnt to have turned down the offer.

Several of Mr. Biswal's Cabinet colleagues have been renominated, including Mr. Niranjan Patnaik, Mr. Basant Kumar Biswal, Mr. Jagannath Patnaik, Mr. K. C. Lenka and Mrs. Usharani Panda.

The party has chosen roughly 50 per cent young candidates aged under 40, while women have got 10 per cent of the ticket.

Mr. Anil Shastri, AICC(I) secretary, admitted that the party would have liked to have nominated more women but it was not politically feasible until they had a level playing field. This would be possible only when the Women's Reservation Bill was passed.

Almost 90 per cent of the selection process was completed by the PCC(I) itself, facilitating the involvement of all State leaders. Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, Congress(I) president, is said to have issued guidelines to all the PECs to this effect as she did not want criticism that the central leadership was imposing candidates.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : National
Previous : Rift persists in Orissa
Next     : India, Nigeria sign accord to fight drug
           trafficking