Congress begins candidate selection

RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh Congress on Tuesday began the initial process of selecting candidates for the forthcoming assembly polls in the state, with the PCC directing the block and district committees to forward names of five deserving party workers within a week.
PCC president Dr Charan Das Mahant also announced that money lost by depositors in the Indira Gandhi Priyadarshni Co-operative Bank scam, which led to the closure of the bank, would be returned if they come to power.
Mahant announced the commencement of a state-wide ‘BJP hatao; Chhattisgarh Bachao’ campaign from August 9. Under the campaign, rallies and public meetings will be held in all the assembly segments to make people aware of what Mahant termed as the misdeeds of BJP. He said the party would be finalising its manifesto soon and all sections of the society would be accommodated in it. Incidentally, senior party functionary and vice- president, Renu Jogi, wife of Mahant’s main detractor, Ajit Jogi, skipped the meeting.
Though Mahant said that both Renu Jogi and Pratibha Pandey, daughter of slain party veteran VC Shukla, had informed about their absence, Jogi told TOI that a very short notice was given for the meeting. “Renu was busy at her constituency,” he said.