Cong manifesto committee meets

Rahul Gandhi today asked Congress leaders to ensure that suggestions received from people are not ignored, as senior party functionaries tonight deliberated on issues and programmes to be included in the manifesto for the upcoming general elections.
In the second meeting of Congress' manifesto committee, headed by Union Minister A K Antony, Gandhi, who had launched a website to receive direct inputs from the public, said all worthwhile suggestions from the people should be incorporated and there is a need to look at the issues seriously, party sources said.
The meeting was held at 15, Gurudwara Rakabganj Road, also known as the Congress War Room.

Antony, P Chidambaram, Sushilkumar Shinde, Anand Sharma, Salman Khurshid, Sandeep Dikshit, Ajit Jogi, Renuka Chowdhary, P L Punia, Mohan Gopal, Jairam Ramesh and Digvijay Singh are members of the manifesto committee.
The panel had first met on August 9, which was "merely an exchange of views on issues".
Gandhi has been telling partymen for quite some time that there is a need to involve people from grassroot in policy- making and inputs should also be taken from block Congress committees when the party finalises the manifesto.

This was one of the highlights of his speech during Congress' 'Chintan Shivir' held in Jaipur in January this year when he was anointed the party's Vice-President.

In today's meeting, Gandhi said a system needs to be evolved so that the suggestions are collated subject-wise and then cosidered for inclusion in the manifesto.
Union Minister Jairam Ramesh was asked to create a timetable on how to go ahead with the plan. During the meeting, Chidambaram said future meetings on the issue should be held keeping in mind the upcoming Winter Session of Parliament in December, the sources said.
In a rally in Alwar, Rajasthan, on October 23, Gandhi had launched the party website http://www.Incmanifesto.In, which opens with a declaration by Congress. It has so far received over 4,000 suggestions.