Cong brainstorming session in Jaipur from January 18-20

Of the three-day event, two days will be devoted to brainstorming session of 300-odd senior leaders and will culiminate into a day-long AICC meeting on the last day, AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi told reporters here today.

The AICC meeting will endorse the conclusions arrived at during the brainstorming exercise, the third such 'Shivir' since Sonia Gandhi became Congress President in 1998. The earlier two brainstorming sessions were held at Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh and Shimla in Himachal Pradesh.

The first 'Shivir' was held at Pachmarhi in 1998 soon after Gandhi took over reins of the organisation. The second 'Shivir' held at Shimla in 2003 led to Congress coming to power at the Centre via the coalition route in May, 2004.

The exercise in Jaipur will be crucial for the party and is expected to be the first such venture after a proposed reshuffle of AICC secretariat when Rahul Gandhi is set to assume a larger role in the party.

The idea of 'Chintan Shivir' was mooted by Sonia Gandhi in the party's plenary here in December, 2010 but it could not materialise as both the government and the party had battled one crisis after another since then.

The issue of alliances is expected to figure prominently at the Jaipur brainstorming session as it had done in Pachmarhi and Shimla. At Pachmarhi, Congress had held that coalition is a transient phase while that in Shimla had called for unity of secular forces that led to the formation of UPA in 2004 ousting BJP-led NDA from power.

It will be held after assembly election results in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh come out and preparations for assembly polls in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi would have commenced.

The 'Shivir' will review political and economic situation as well discuss schemes implemented by UPA government in rural and urban areas, Dwivedi said. (MORE)