Congress panel discusses Bihar polls, Sonia and PM attend

NEW DELHI - The Congress election committee (CEC), chaired by party president Sonia Gandhi and including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Wednesday met to discuss strategy for the Bihar polls beginning next month.

The 13-member committee includes senior ministers like Pranab Mukherjee, A.K. Antony and P. Chidambaram as well as senior party leaders like Arjun Singh and M.L. Fotedar. The meeting was being held at Sonia Gandhi’s 10 Janpath residence.

Congress sources said the leaders would discuss the general criteria for screening candidates for the elections in Bihar, to be held over six phases from Oct 21 to Nov 20.

Congress office-bearers declined to comment whether the party’s leadership would also discuss the Commonwealth Games preparations in the wake of complaints by several countries on the Games Village and the collapse of a pedestrian bridge near the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.