BHUBANESWAR: The Congress will announce the names of candidates for at least 50 of the 147 assembly constituencies of the state within a fortnight.The newly formed Pradesh Election Committee (PEC) will convene a meeting here on Monday to finalize the selection criteria."We will announce the names in the next 15 days. Youths and women will be given preference," All India Congress Committee's Odisha in-charge Jitendra Singh said on the sidelines of a meeting with newly appointed office-bearers of the party here on Sunday.The Congress, taking a cue from its Rajasthan unit, launched 'Mera Booth, Mera Gaurav' (my booth, my pride) in the state on Sunday.The party described it as an extensive voter outreach programme where leaders and office-bearers would cover all booths.Some Congress workers from Alwar arrived here to interact with state leaders and tell them about the success of the initiative in Rajasthan. Singh himself is a former Alwar MP."We have asked all office-bearers to go to the booths and interact with the public. Leaders, irrespective of their rank and profile, will have to reach out to the voters. We will regularly hold booth-level meetings and sensitize people about the failures of the BJD government in the state and BJP at the Centre," Congress state president Niranjan Patnaik said.He said the performance of the office-bearers would be assessed every month by a committee.However, he did not give a clear answer when asked about the displeasure of a few leaders who were not included in the list of office-bearers.Addressing the newly appointed office-bearers, Niranjan asked them to revive Congress in the state. "I will work to bring back Congress here," he said.Congress, which had once ruled Odisha, has been out of power since 2000. Referring to the perceived closeness between BJD and BJP in the wake of the recent Rajya Sabha deputy chairman's election, in which BJD supported NDA nominee Harivansh Narayan Singh, the Congress state chief said his party would fight both BJD and BJP in Odisha.

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