K'taka: Main criterion for Congress ticket is winnability factor, says KC Venugopal

Belagavi: With an objective to win more seats in the coming assembly election than it won in the last election, the Congress party has decided to field candidates with good winnability prospects irrespective of whether they are locally popular leaders or outsiders, said the All-India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, K.C. Venugopal.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle in Belagavi on Friday, Mr Venugopal said, ‘Winnability’ was the criterion which his party would follow rather than going for local candidates.

Mr Venugopal said that the candidates would be decided based on the reports of the party observers. Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Dr G. Parameshwar, who was inspecting the work at the new Congress party office in Belagavi, said the state government did not fail in implementing the Mahadayi project adding that efforts were made by the government to get this project started.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi could have intervened to resolve the issue by holding a meeting of Chief Ministers of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa but he did not do so.

Dr Parameshwar recalled the meeting of three Chief Ministers held by the former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi in South India during her tenure in office to resolve the Cauvery issue and said similar efforts could have been made to ensure implementation of the Mahadayi project.

The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president refused to accept that the worsening law and order situation in the state, including the recent attack by Mohammad Haris, son of MLA N.A. Haris on a youth, could make an impact on the Congress party’s prospects in the coming election.

The party will never intervene in such cases and will only urge the police to initiate stringent action against the guilty, he said.

Commenting on the Mumbai-Karnataka tour of AICC president Rahul Gandhi scheduled to start on Saturday, he said that Mr Gandhi may visit temples, dargas or churchs during his tour if he wanted to.