Congress brass to brainstorm in 'Samvaad Baithak' at Surajkund; party switched to election mode

NEW DELHI: With 18 months to go for parliamentary elections of 2014, Congress has indicated it has switched to election mode. After Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called the entire Council of Ministers to chalk out priorities of his government, Congress announced its brass would hold a dialogue on November 9, which would be followed by a brain-storming session.

The session, called ' Samvaad Baithak', would be held on November 9 at Surajkund. The session would be an informal meeting attended by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress Working Committee members, CWC in-charge of states, Congress' Cabinet ministers and ministers of state with independent charge. The top leadership will discuss the current political situation, economic challenges and Congress' manifesto implementation at the day-long session.

Announcing this, Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi, said, "it would be an informal one. It will have three items on the agenda - current political situation, economic challenges before the country and discussion on manifesto implementation of Congress. No resolution will be passed in this Samvaad Baithak."

The informal meeting will follow a massive rally on November 4, at Ramlila Maidan. While it was earlier planned to counter Opposition's campaign against the government's economic reforms agenda, more specifically FDI in multi-brand retail trade, the rally's agenda has been made broader tking into consideration the current political situation. The rally will be attended by the central leadership, chief ministers of Congress-ruled states, state Congress unit chiefs, All India Congress Committee members, Congress MPs and MLAs, block and zila presidents and state-level office-bearers of frontal organisations. The rally will be a show of strength at a time when the Congress-led government is being targeted almost every day, by activists and the Opposition.