By IANS,
New Delhi : Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will set the tone for the party’s ‘Chintan Shivir’ review-cum-strategy session at Jaipur to work on a roadmap for 2014 general elections, Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said Wednesday.
The three-day meeting begins Friday.
“The Chintan Shivir will start with Sonia Gandhi’s speech. She will set the direction for the discussion,” Dwivedi told reporters.
While around 350 delegates, including union cabinet ministers, senior party leaders and members of the youth wings, will discuss issues related to emerging political challenges, socio-economic challenges, women’s empowerment, India and the world and organisational strength in five groups, the top leadership including the Congress chief, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party’s de facto number two Rahul Gandhi will join them each in turn for short durations, said Dwivedi.
The discussions will also consider pre- and post-poll alliances, shoring up the economy and urban street protests on corruption and gang-rape issues, which shook the government, will also be discussed.
Due to Rahul Gandhi’s intervention, as many as 128 delegates are from the party’s youth wings — the Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India, headed by him.
The five sub-groups to be headed by senior leaders A.K. Antony, Digvijaya Singh, Girija Vyas, Anand Sharma and Ghulam Nabi Azad will continue their deliberations till Jan 19.
The sub-group heads will brief the Congress chief on the gist of debates Saturday afternoon.
In the evening, the Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest decision-making body, will discuss the points and approve a final document detailing the future course of action.
The strategy meet will end with the All India Congress Committee session on Jan 20.
The session, to be attended by over 1,200 delegates, will further debate the CWC document and pass the Jaipur declaration which will guide the party through the nine assembly elections in 2013 and the Lok Sabha polls in 2014.
“Sonia Gandhi’s speech will open and end the AICC session. The prime minister and Rahul Gandhi will also address the session,” said Dwivedi.