The upcoming Assembly elections in half a dozen states and the Lok Sabha elections will be high on the agenda of an extended CWC meeting here which will also discuss possible alliances.
NEW DELHI: The upcoming Assembly elections in half a dozen states and the Lok Sabha elections will be high on the agenda of an extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting here on Friday which will also discuss possible alliances.
Inflation will dominate the discussions on the economic agenda and the party may draw up plans to cash in on the Indo-US nuclear deal which has ended the country's nuclear isolation, Congress leaders said.
Around 150 delegates, comprising party General Secretaries, Secretaries, CWC members, PCC Presidents, CLP leaders along with Union Ministers would deliberate on these issues besides others to generate new ideas and to decide a political strategy in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls.
Party President Sonia Gandhi would chair the meeting in which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi are expected to be key participants.
"A resolution is likely to be passed praising the foreign policy of the UPA government in view of the waiver at Vienna and also to thank Party President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh," a leader said.
The extended meeting of the CWC is taking place in place of a "chintan shivir" due to lack of time before the Assembly elections. The party needs to put in place an electoral strategy as early as possible, according to the leaders.
"Elections would be held in six states - Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Rajasthan, Mizoram and also in Jammu and Kashmir in November or December. These elections would be a litmus test for the party and would indicate which way the political wind is blowing. Our focus would be to come out with a winning strategy," a senior leader said.
The extended meeting would also finalise the ad agency, to be hired by the party, for an advertisement blitzkrieg before the Assembly elections. The Publicity Committee of the party has shortlisted two agencies for the job.
"Suitable slogans on UPA government's efforts and success in energy security, poverty alleviation, loan waiver of farmers besides others are expected to be finalised in the CWC meeting," party leaders said.
As alliances are considered necessary in the current political scenario, another agenda of the brain storming session would be to look for alliance partners for Lok Sabha elections. The party has already entered into a dialogue with the Samajwadi Party in UP.
It would also elicit the opinion of the party office-bearers of respective states to determine how many Lok Sabha seats it should contest in states like Bihar and Maharashtra where the ground situation has changed after the delimitation. The Congress already has formed alliance with RJD and NCP in both these states.
In some states like Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, the WC would look into the option of exploring new alliance partners.
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