Congress president Sonia Gandhi has deferred announcing the 180-odd candidates for the Gujarat elections by at least three days. Sonia will convene a meeting of the Central Election Committee (CEC) tomorrow. Two aspects weigh heavily on the party’s mind: some state ministers have begun a desperate search for alternate constituencies. Also, the Congress wants to limit infighting caused by denial of tickets by delaying the announcement of candidates. Sources said Kamal Nath, AICC general secretary in charge of Gujarat, is taking all possibilities into account. Kamal Nath said he was aware that some BJP leaders in Gujarat have begun looking for safer bets after abandoning their constituencies. The Congress has, meanwhile, decided to field the sons of prominent state politicians. The sons of PCC chief Shankarsinh Vaghela (Mahinder Vaghela), former PCC chief Amarsinh Choudhary (Tushar Choudhary), Urmilaben Patel (Sidharth Patel) and Madhavsinh Solanki (Bharat Solanki) have been given tickets. Defending their selection, Kamal Nath said all of them are established politicians in Gujarat in their own right, some are sitting MLAs.
