‘Winnability’ top priority for Cong

The Congress will not be nominating candidates who have a criminal background in the Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhatti-sgarh, Delhi and Mizoram Assembly polls, which will be held in the next couple of months. This was indicated by AICC sources here on Monday at a time when the party’s screening committees for these states are busy shortlisting nominees. Though “winnability” would be the main criterion in this exercise, the party does not want to make any compromise on the issue of aspirants having a clean image. A Congress official involved in strategy, planning and campaigning for the Chhattisgarh polls said, “At least we would not be fielding candidates with criminal backgrounds in the state Assembly polls.” The Congress will be fielding relatives of party leaders Vidya Charan Shukla, Mahendra Karma, Nand Kumar Patel and Uday Mudaliyar, who were killed in the Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh in May this year, in the coming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. While the party has decided to nominate the widows of Mahendra Karma and Uday Mudaliyar and the son of Nand Kumar Patel, Umesh, in the Assembly polls, Pratibha Pande, the daughter of Vidya Charan Shukla, will contest the Lok Sabha elections from the state.