Cong convenes AICC meet in Delhi on Jan 17

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After the severe drubbing in four states, Congress has convened an AICC meeting in Delhi on January 17 to prepare the strategy ahead with Lok Sabha polls being just a few months away.

The meet has been called at a time when Congress is facing an uphill task with the emergence of Narendra Modi and UPA appears to be shrinking.

Asked when the AICC meeting will take place, party General Secretary Janadan Dwivedi said, "The meeting is being held in Delhi on January 17."

The AICC meeting was due since the last meeting was held in Jaipur in January this year along with the 'Chintan Shivir' which saw the elevation of Rahul Gandhi as the party Vice President.

After the defeat in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Asssembly polls, party chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had said there would be deep introspection into the reverses. The Congress Vice President had suggested that the party would effect changes beyond imagination.

The announcement about the AICC meeting came a day after DMK chief M Karunanidhi, who had parted ways with Congress- led UPA just a few months back, declared that it would not align with Congress in the Lok Sabha polls. He accused Congress of being "ungrateful". The announcement signalled an end to the decade-old relationship between the two parties.

Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, which was the second largest constituent of UPA, left the alliance last year on FDI in retail issue. Besides DMK, Babulal Marandi's Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) and AIMIM are the two other parties that have left the ruling alliance at the Centre.

At a time when the talk is that the next Lok Sabha polls will be a Rahul Gandhi vs Narendra Modi affair, Sonia Gandhi has said that the party would announce at an opportune time, its Prime Ministerial candidate.