Congress finalises MLC candidates

New Delhi, March 9: The Congress party has finalized the names of candidates for the MLC candidates.

Talking to reporters here, PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana said that the names be announced on Sunday while issuing B-Forms to the selected candidates. Stating that the party received 165 applications, he said that the candidates were finalised by the Congress High Command. He also said that Amavasya would not be an impediment for filing nominations.

Earlier, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Botsa met Congress president Sonia Gandhi to finalise the list. Sources say that Sonia Gandhi was in favour of giving preference to new faces. Senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel were also consulted in this regard.

Going by the strength in the State Assembly, Congress can win five seats while four other candidates can be nominated by the Governor. According to sources, the candidature of former minister Mohammad Ali Shabbir, Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy, Bharati, Ragya Nayak, Raghurami Reddy and Kanteti Satyanarayana Raju figure among the shortlisted candidates.