Cong Puts Off Press Meet

In a significant move, the Congress cancelled its daily briefing at 4 pm for August 13 and 14 but requested journalists to attend two party functions where Sonia Gandhi might speak.

Functions of such magnitude and importance have been organised in the past also, but never before has the party issued invitation cards to journalists or requested them to be present there. The public appearance of Gandhi on the two occasions and her speeches would assume immense importance in case AIADMK leader J Jayalalitha and her Tamil Nadu allies decide to give the last blow to the A B Vajpayee government in their meeting on August 13.

When asked for the significance of the two meetings and the reason for the special invitation to journalists to attend them, a party functionary said that about 20 senior level ex-servicemen, including a retired Army general, would join the party in the presence of Gandhi in one of the functions.

Interestingly, both the functions are exactly at the time of the daily Congress briefing, and one of them is being organised in the same hall in which regular party briefings take place.