By IANS,
Ahmedabad : The Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee will form a four-member panel of senior leaders to start the process of selecting probable candidates for the 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state, a party source said here Monday.
A party source said that the panel would be announced by Tuesday evening.
The panel would select the probable candidates for which a preliminary list has already been prepared and then forward it to the party high command in Delhi for final approval.
The source said the selection criteria for the candidates will be rigorous as party general secretary Rahul Gandhi had been taking a keen interest in the selection process in the state.
“There would be no surprise if 30 percent of the names for the seats in Gujarat come from the Youth Congress as Rahulji sure is hoping to capitalise on his popularity among the youth in Gujarat,” a senior party MP told IANS.
“There would be more number of trips made by Rahulji to Gujarat during the next two months as his presence in the state has provided sufficient hope of the Congress grabbing more seats in the Lok sabha polls this time round,” he added.
At present of the 26 Lok Sabha seats from the state, 12 are held by the Congress and 14 by the Bharatiya Janata Party.