Congress plenary to be ‘worker-centric’; to spell out stance on alliances 

With the aim to set the agenda for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress party kicked off its 84th plenary session under the new president Rahul Gandhi on Friday. The plenary, being held after eight years, will ratify Rahul Gandhi's election as Congress President.

The plenary, which began with a meeting of the steering committee at the Constitution Club, New Delhi, will pass four resolutions on political, economic, foreign affairs and a combined one on agriculture, employment and poverty alleviation, over the next two days.

In the backdrop of BJP’s continuous defeats in the bypolls, the political resolution will spell out the party's strategy on alliances against the BJP-led NDA in 2019. The economic resolution is expected to highlight the "mismanagement of economy" by the BJP-led government, said sources .

“Rahul Gandhi is keen that it is a ‘workers' plenary’ and those working at the grass roots would contribute in a big way during the deliberations on the resolutions. The Congress president has directed that the opinion of youth delegates must be considered and then reflected in the direction the party takes,” said Randeep Surjewala, AICC communications incharge.

"The focus of plenary earlier always used to be the Congress President. Rahul ji wants to shift the focus of plenary away from himself to workers, ideoloogy and resolutions. It is a major shift. Their (the workers) suggestions will be noted and also incorporated in the resolutions," a party leader said.

It is not clear yet if Rahul Gandhi will opt for election to the Congress Working Committee in keeping with his oft-repeated thrust on internal democracy or opt to nominate them as has been the general practice in the party.

The plenary began with a meeting of the Congress steering committee on Friday, which finalised the draft resolutions. Rahul Gandhi's speech on Saturday morning is expected to set the tone of the plenary. He will also make the concluding remarks. The plenary session will be held at the Indira Gandhi Indore Stadium in the Capital city.

With inputs from IANS