Talks over Cong's ticket allotment for MP polls inconclusive

Senior Congress leaders have been given the task of sorting out differences between party leaders from Madhya Pradesh over allotment of tickets for the assembly elections as talks at the central election committee meeting remained inconclusive, sources said Thursday.

According to the sources, during the meeting of the central election committee on late Wednesday, Congress leaders Digvijaya Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia exchanged heated notes in the presence of party chief Rahul Gandhi.

The CEC meeting for Madhya Pradesh remained inconclusive after it continued till hours beyond midnight.

While batting for their respective candidates, Scindia and Singh exchanged heated notes, the sources said.

This forced Rahul Gandhi to ask senior party leaders Ahmed Patel, M Veerappa Moily and Ashok Gehlot to sit with the "warring" leaders and resolve the differences, they said.

Insiders say a third meeting of the CEC, the party's body for selecting candidates, for Madhya Pradesh is likely this evening. No candidate has been announced for the state, which goes to polls on November 28.

The process of nominations for Madhya Pradesh starts Friday with the issue of gazette notification.

Asked about the issue, AICC general secretary Gehlot denied reports of any differences between the leaders and claimed that the party leadership in Madhya Pradesh was united.

"There was no such fight between the leaders as reported in a section of the media. All the leaders in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are united," he said.

Gehlot said lengthy meetings of the CEC have taken place to ensure that the candidate selection process ends soon.

"Long meetings are taking place to speed up the selection process for candidates," he said.