NEW DELHI: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi will start a two-day tour of J&K on Wednesday to take stock of the party’s preparations for the upcoming assembly elections. They will visit Jammu and Srinagar, and hold meetings with party workers and office bearers.The new J&K Congress president, Tariq Hameed Karra, has said that National Conference has approached the Congress for an alliance, and even PDP has spoken at “some level” for a tie-up.Kharge and Rahul on Tuesday held a meeting with the screening committees of the four election-bound states, where they touched upon the criteria for candidate selection. The screening committees shortlist the candidates and narrow down the choices to the final names, before sending them to Congress’s central election committee for discussion and selection of candidates.Sources said Rahul will have a greater involvement in candidate selection for the coming elections. He is likely to hold another meeting with the Haryana screening panel after the state election committee discusses and finalises the list of candidates for the 90 seats in the state. “The same format is likely to be followed in Jharkhand and Maharashtra, where elections have not yet been announced.
