The role of the party organisation across the country would be the focus when the AICC meets next month for the first time since the UPA Government came to power. Though this would not be the party’s plenary session, the two-day meeting would be presided over by party president Sonia Gandhi, and attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and all Congress MPs. Among the issues expected to be discussed at the meeting is a proposal that Sonia continue with her ‘Jan Sampark’ programmes that she had launched across the country in the run-up to the LS polls. The Congress chief is also likely to extensively tour Maharashtra, where the Assembly elections are to be held later this year. In certain parts of Maharashtra like the Vidarbha region, the party’s alliance with the NCP is perceived to have done some damage to its prospects. For now, the party’s strategy for the Assembly elections seems to be to keep the spirit of the alliance alive but work towards strengthening the party in the state. The political resolution at the AICC meet would also concentrate on campaign and electoral strategies in the other states going to polls. Besides Maharashtra, the other states where Assembly elections are due are Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh. The impending polls is said to be one of the reasons why the party leadership has been considering holding the AICC meeting in one of these states.
