Congress CM conclave begins

Seeking to rejuvenate the Congress after its worst debacle in Lok Sabha polls, Sonia Gandhi is meeting party chief ministers today to devise strategy to take forward the fight against the Modi government by highlighting its failures.

Besides deliberating on the political course ahead, the meet is expected to focus on "mismanagement" of the economy by the Centre's NDA government, which recently completed a year in office.

Though the AICC has so far not made public the agenda, the government's "failure" to address the problems of farmers and the gloomy agrarian situation, particularly after forecast of a deficient monsoon, are some of the issues party vice president Rahul Gandhi is likely to take up in a big way at the convention.

The chief minister's conclave is the first after Rahul's elevation at Jaipur 'Chintan Shivir' in January 2013.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be a key speaker at the day-long meet during which Sonia and Rahul would also guide the Congress chief ministers on the challenges ahead.

Congress is in power in nine states -- Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Assam, Mizoram, Manipur, Karnataka, Kerala, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

With Assembly elections in Congress-ruled Assam and Kerala scheduled next year, the meet would also provide an opportunity to deliberate on the strategy ahead.

Sonia Gandhi, who has been at the helm of the party since 1998, had started the practice of organising conclave of Congress chief ministers when the party was in Opposition at the Centre. Such meets had been held at Mount Abu, Guwahati, Delhi and Srinagar.

The chief ministers' meet, a senior party leader said, was likely to send out a message that it was only a matter of time before Rahul takes over.