NEW DELHI, March 12: The West Bengal Congress in-charge Jitin Prasada is upset over the delay in finalisation of the candidates list in the state, sources said that the decisions were being deliberately delayed which may hamper the Congress prospects in the elections.
The source said that all decisions were being taken by Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who is the state president, on the issue of alliance and also in the ticket finalisation.
Prasada is in Delhi, said the source, and added that he is upset. The Congress had authorised a committee to take the decision on alliance in which Adhir Ranjan, Pradeep Bhattacharya, Nepal Mahto and Abdul Mannan are the members.
The alliance with the ISF was even questioned by Anand Sharma. This was later clarified by the Congress that it is the Left which has given seats to ISF from its quota.
The Congress has constituted a screening committee under J.P Aggarwal, which had a couple of meetings on the issue. However, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and state in-charge Jitin Prasada, both did not respond to the calls regarding the reason for the delay in the ticket finalization.
The Congress is contesting 92 seats in the West Bengal Assembly in alliance with the Left and ISF. So far, it has announced candidates for 13 seats. Due to the delay in the finalisation of all the candidates, the visit of Rahul Gandhi and other senior leaders for campaigning has not yet been finalised.
The Assembly elections in West Bengal will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 and the results will be declared on May 2.