The Congress will go without declaring the chief ministerial face in the upcoming Assembly elections in the five states.
As per reports, Congress will decide the chief ministerial candidate after the results and Congress legislative party will decide the new leader with the consent of the high command.
The Congress leaders in Punjab and Uttarakhand want that Chief Ministers should be projected. Supporters of Harish Rawat, former CM and Navjot Singh Sidhu, Punjab Congress chief want to be projected as Chief Minister’s face.
But the party says it will not take the risk to alienate other factions ahead of polls.
The Congress faces a major challenge of retaining power in Punjab, and coming up with a credible show against the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.
Except in Uttar Pradesh, the party is in direct contest with the BJP in three states, while in Punjab, it faces the Akali Dal-BSP and Aam Aadmi Party.
Though it is not the main challenger in Uttar Pradesh, Congress wants to be ahead of the BSP in the contest.
The Congress is faced with a crisis in Goa, where almost all the MLAs have deserted the party, the party has three former Chief Ministers — Digambar Kamat, Pratap Singh Rane but has not decided to project anybody as the face though former Chief Minister Francisco Sardinha is one of the contenders for the top post.
In Manipur too, the Congress has faced an exodus ahead of the polls. But there Okram Ibobi Singh, the former Chief Minister could be given one more chance if the party comes to power but won’t project anybody.
The party is paying special attention to the northeastern state and has appointed Jairam Ramesh as the senior observer.
In the last elections in Manipur, Congress could not form the government despite emerging as the single largest party.