The decision of Congress president Sonia Gandhi to hold a dialogue with her party’s central ministers, chief ministers, office bearers and other senior leaders would mark the beginning of the Congress campaign to retain power in the 2014 general election. ‘The samvad baithak (dialogue session) at Surajkund on 9 November should not be seen in isolation,’ said a senior Congress leader pointing to a series of events.
The agenda for the Surajkund conclave could well have been unveiled on Thursday itself with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressing his newly-constituted council of 77 ministers. Singh made no qualms about taking credit for the government initiatives in the social sector with the successful implementation of flagship initiatives like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the setting up of the Unique Identification Authority of India to provide every resident with an ‘Aadhaar’ number to access social support services, the Rural Health Mission, the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, the Skill Development Mission and legislation bringing into effect the Right to Information and the Right to Education Act.
This could be an indication that the party too could bring pressure on the government to focus on the social sector to balance introduction of the second generation economic reforms like allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail, which has been opposed tooth and nail by the opposition BJP and the UPA’s erstwhile ally Trinamool Congress.
The party is all geared for a rally in support of FDI at Ramlila Maidan coming Sunday. The responsibility for this has been assigned to important leaders like Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit. The main purpose of this rally is to give a message about the benefits of FDI and also countering the anti-FDI campaign launched by the opposition.
‘By holding the ‘samvad’ in the midst of the campaign for Gujarat and Himachal polls and also ahead of the winter session of parliament, the leadership wants to give a message of its plans both to the voters and their representatives inside parliament,’ said a senior party leader. Congress general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi gave a cue to the agenda by saying, ‘It would be an informal meeting which will discuss economic challenges and manifesto implementation.’
The agenda for the Surajkund conclave could well have been unveiled on Thursday itself with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressing his newly-constituted council of 77 ministers. Singh made no qualms about taking credit for the government initiatives in the social sector with the successful implementation of flagship initiatives like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the setting up of the Unique Identification Authority of India to provide every resident with an ‘Aadhaar’ number to access social support services, the Rural Health Mission, the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, the Skill Development Mission and legislation bringing into effect the Right to Information and the Right to Education Act.
This could be an indication that the party too could bring pressure on the government to focus on the social sector to balance introduction of the second generation economic reforms like allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail, which has been opposed tooth and nail by the opposition BJP and the UPA’s erstwhile ally Trinamool Congress.
The party is all geared for a rally in support of FDI at Ramlila Maidan coming Sunday. The responsibility for this has been assigned to important leaders like Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit. The main purpose of this rally is to give a message about the benefits of FDI and also countering the anti-FDI campaign launched by the opposition.
‘By holding the ‘samvad’ in the midst of the campaign for Gujarat and Himachal polls and also ahead of the winter session of parliament, the leadership wants to give a message of its plans both to the voters and their representatives inside parliament,’ said a senior party leader. Congress general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi gave a cue to the agenda by saying, ‘It would be an informal meeting which will discuss economic challenges and manifesto implementation.’