Pratibha, Raizada in Cong’s HP shortlist

Shimla: The Congress coordination committee on Wednesday shortlisted sitting MP and state Congress chief Pratibha Singh for the Mandi parliamentary constituency, while the name of former Una MLA Satpal Raizada has been suggested for the Hamirpur seat. The consensus was reached during the first meeting of the coordination committee, held in Chandigarh. The final decision on the tickets will be taken by the Congress’ central election committee. The doubts raised by Pratibha Singh, who was present in the meeting, were also discussed. Earlier, Pratibha had shown her reluctance to contest the Lok Sabha elections. According to sources, names for Kangra and Shimla Lok Sabha seats could not be finalised in the meeting attended by CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, his deputy Mukesh Agnihotri, health minister Dhani Ram Shandil and AICC in-charge for Himachal Pradesh Rajiv Shukla apart from Pratibha Singh. Former ministers Kaul Singh Thakur and Ram Lal Thakur were also present.For Kangra seat, the Congress has listed the names of Asha Kumari and Sanjay Chauhan, while for the Shimla (SC) seat, Vinod Sultanpuri, Amit Nanda and Dayal Pyari have been kept in the panel.Meanwhile, it was decided in the coordination committee meeting that the party should keep an eye on the situation for the selection of candidates for the six assembly seats on which byelections were to be held. Tickets for these seats should be given to the persons who have the potential to win, even if the candidate is from some other party, the committee pointed out.Under the prevailing circumstances, the Congress will first take a decision on BJP rebel leaders like Ramlal Markanda from Lahaul, Rakesh Kalia from Gagret and Lakhvinder Rana from Nalagarh, said the sources. After the discussion in Chandigarh, now the screening committee meeting will be held in Delhi on April 5. The central election committee of the party is scheduled to meet on April 6. And in all likelihood, the Congress will on April 7 announce the tickets for the four Lok Sabha seats of Himachal and the six assembly constituencies.Earlier in the day Sukhu, while interacting with the mediapersons in Chandigarh ahead of the meeting, said the Congress was fully geared up for the Lok Sabha elections and it would also win all the six assembly seats that were going to byelections.Agnihotri, meanwhile, said the Congress was settled while the saffron party was faced with real problem as “real rebellion is going on within the BJP”. He said the real election was between the Congress and the Congress rebels and the BJP was just a mute spectator.