Early Times Report
Jammu, July 30: Amidst speculations that State Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir may be held along with forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, Congress high command is learnt to have directed its probable candidates to tighten belt for the same.
According to the reliable sources in Congress circles, Ghulam Nabi Azad, G A Mir and Tariq Hamid Karra have shortlisted the names of possible candidates, who have been direct one to one for getting ready to contest the forthcoming Assembly election.
Sources further said that other senior leaders in the Congress high command, including Ambika Soni, have also been taken into confidence in finalizing the names of probable candidates. In Jammu region, sources disclosed, the list includes the names of Tara Chand (Khour), Sham Lal Sharma (Akhnoor), Mula Ram (Domana), Raman Bhalla (Gandhi Nagar), R S Chib (Suchetgarh), Prof Garu Ram Bhagat ( R S Pura), M K Bhardwaj (Bishnah), Arun Sharma (Vijaypur), Swarn Lata (Samba), Girdhari Lal Chalotra (Hiranagar), Manohar Lal Sharma (Billawar), Krishan Lal Bhagat (Chenani), Ashok Kumar (Ramban), Mohd Sharief Naiz (Bhaderwah), Abdul Majid Wani (Doda), Ashok Kumar Sharma (Kalakote), Shabir Khan (Rajouri), Vikram Malhotra (Jammu-East), Manmohan Singh (Jammu- West), Shiv dev Singh (Marh), Jugal Kishore Sharma (Reasi) and all the sitting MLAs.
Except the new ones, whose names have been shortlisted for the mandate for the first time, all others have been individually conveyed to remain prepare for contesting the Assembly elections, which are round the corner and may be announced along with Lok Sabha polls, disclosed a senior Congress leader on the condition of anonymity. Even as some senior leaders in the list are learnt to have suggested the names of their kin as Congress candidate in their place, sources said that such proposals have been outrightly rejected. |
