Key Congress body to meet on Dec 25-26 to finalise candidates for civic corporation polls

Mumbai, Dec 16 (PTI) The Maharashtra Congress on Tuesday said it will finalise its candidates for the January 15 polls to 29 municipal corporations at a two-day meeting of the State Parliamentary Board beginning on December 25.

State Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal told reporters that he held a meeting with party leaders from 28 of the 29 poll-bound civic bodies to chalk out a strategy for the elections.

He noted detailed discussions were held on election preparedness for 28 municipal corporations, including candidate selection and alliance strategy.

Sapkal said strategy regarding polls to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), India's largest civic body, will be discussed separately.

Interviews of ticket aspirants would be conducted at district-level from December 17 and candidates would be finalised at a meeting of the State Parliamentary Board scheduled for December 25-26. Decisions on alliances have been left to local leadership, he added.

Referring to the latest development in the National Herald case, Sapkal noted that a Delhi court's refusal to take cognisance of an ED chargesheet in the matter has exposed the BJP's "false agenda" to malign Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.

He alleged misuse of central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to harass Opposition leaders and demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP.

Sapkal stressed the 'National Herald' newspaper was founded during the freedom movement with people's contributions and has since then functioned on a non-profit basis.

He insisted no individual had derived any financial benefit from the organisation (Associated Journals Ltd), but alleged false cases of money laundering were filed and Congress leaders were subjected to prolonged questioning.

It may be noted that Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) is the publisher of the National Herald news platform (newspaper and web portal) and it is owned by Young Indian Pvt Ltd.

The Congress leader also raised the issue of Sports Minister Manikrao Kokate, alleging that despite a district court reportedly upholding a two-year sentence against him in a housing scam case, the government was protecting him.

He demanded Kokate's immediate removal from the cabinet. PTI MR RSY