Cong top brass meet to discuss strategy for Winter session

Congress top brass today met to discuss the strategy ahead in the Winter session of Parliament beginning December 5 as government inched closer to formation of Telangana.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath, who is not a member of the Congress Core Group, was present in the meeting presided over by party chief Sonia Gandhi with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by her side.
The meeting apparently discussed the issue of floor coordination in both Houses at a time when Congress is taking in a big way the snoopate issue in Gujarat to target Narendra Modi as this will be the second last session of this Lok Sabha with the general elections just five months away.

The winter session is set to be a stormy affair with Opposition planning to raise a host of issues including coalgate, Tehelka rape case and price rise.
The outcome of the assembly elections in five states scheduled on December 8 is expected to overshadow the session, which has been made just a two-week affair in view of the polls.
A special meeting of the Union Cabinet on December 3 will discuss the report of the Group of Ministers (GoM), set up to look into the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, and the draft Telangana Bill, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said hours before the Congress Core Group meeting.

Tuesday's Cabinet meeting has been called to discuss exclusively the Telangana issue, he said.

"Various options (on how to create Telangana) will be put forward and the Cabinet will take a final call," he told reporters here.
Sources said the last meeting of the GoM will be held either on Monday or early Tuesday to finalise the draft Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill.
In the last session, MPs from Seemandhra region, particularly those belonging to TDP, had forced a number of adjournments.