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he meeting came after reports that the SP was pressuring the Congress to finalise the seat-sharing arrangements in Uttar Pradesh. It is believed that a pre-poll alliance was a part of the deal the Congress had reached with the SP to secure its support during the recent trust vote Parliament.

But the SP now is alleging that the ruling party is "unnecessarily delaying" the pact. Singh said he conveyed this to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last Friday.

"The seat-sharing talks are making no headway. There is no formal talk. I met the prime minister and Soniaji the day before yesterday and I have said that it is being unnecessarily delayed," said Singh.

Singh feels that as other parties, like the Bahujan Samaj Party and Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal have already finalised their fronts, the Congress and the SP should also act quickly.

"We are lagging behind...Let us not waste time. I have communicated this to Soniaji and to Manmohan Singhji and also to Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel," he said.

Besides the Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh, the SP favours tie-ups in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

According to sources, the meeting is expected to be attended by top Congress functionaries, Chief Ministers, PCC chiefs and other senior leaders.

The party had earlier planned a `chintan shivir' (brainstorming session) outside Delhi but it has not materialised so far.

The extended CWC meeting will have a heavy agenda, given the fact that the party has to face assembly elections in key states later this year followed by the Lok Sabha polls.

The CWC would discuss the party's preparedness for the assembly polls in the backdrop of Sonia's directive that organisational set-ups in the states should be revamped by August.

There would also be a discussion on the report of the A.K. Antony committee, particularly the recommendation that Congress candidates for assembly and the Lok Sabha polls be named well in advance so that they had sufficient time for campaigning.

There is a section in the party which feels that stitching alliances with regional parties has affected the party's growth. At the same time, many senior leaders argue that the Congress must opt for alliances as colaition politics was the order of the day.

Major issues like the Amarnath land row, Indo-US nuclear deal and spiralling prices will also come up for discussion. The party will have to decide whether the assembly elections could be held in J and K where the row over the Amarnath shrine land has taken an ugly turn.

While postponing the polls would not send the right signals, the situation in the state was not conducive to holding elections, the leaders feel.

Addressing the workers' sammelan of both constituencies at the district Congress Bhawan here, she instructed the party ministers and MLAs in the state government to be sensitive towards the workers and listen to their problems as it would go a long way in strengthening the party set-up for the coming general elections.

Her remarks drew instant applause as she asked the elected leaders to devote specified time in their respective assembly constituencies for the purpose.

She directed Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee president Phool Chand Mullana to chalk out a strategy so that ministers and MLAs could hear workers' grievances.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, too, stressed the need for making workers feel that it was their party's government in the state.

He did not mince words in telling the MLAs and MPs that they should at least offer a cup of tea to the workers, who were the backbone of the party.

SP leader and spokesman Amar Singh told newsmen after meeting the Prime Minister here today that, "'While Dr Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Pranab Mukherjee and A.K. Antony will represent the Congress, Mr Mulayam Singh and myself will be from the Samajwadi Party in the 'committee'.''

The committee is being formed for better coordination and enable the two parties within the ruling UPA alliance to work in greater harmony, Amar Singh emphasised.

He said this 'committee' would soon hold its meeting, he said adding that all six members would be present during the 'coordination committee' meeting.

The SP leader also said an early meeting with AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi to discuss matters related to seat sharing in Uttar Pradesh was also in the offing.

With the Congress party preparing for the assembly elections to be held in November this year and various MLAs seeking tickets, its being felt in the political circle that the party would not give tickets to 24 sitting MLAs due to their bad performance. The party fears that they might lose the elections.

Senior party leaders decided this after election observers talked to the party activists about the image of the candidates, the sources said.

The AICC has appointed four observers to scrutinise the list of ticket seekers.

According to sources, the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) has submitted a list of 210 candidates. Three names have been suggested from one constituency.

The observers talked to the party activists of the constituencies to know about who could be the winner.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is also grappling the MLAs who are likely being refused tickets by the Congress Party.

According to sources, the constituencies of power minister A.K. Walia and education minister Arvinder Singh Lovely may also be changed.

Earlier, Walia contested from Geeta Colony. This constituency has vanished after delimitation. Areas of Geeta Colony have been merged with the Krishna Nagar and the Lakshmi Nagar constituencies. He may contest from Lakshmi Nagar as he has nurtured this area for a long time, the sources said.

Gandhi will address a farmers' rally at the Mihir Bhoj Degree College in Dadri of Gautam Budh Nagar Sep 13, the party's Uttar Pradesh unit president Rita Bahuguna Joshi said Thursday.

A party delegation comprising representatives of various committees fighting the farmers' cause over the compensation issue with the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority will meet Gandhi Aug 25 in New Delhi, she said.

Seeking enhanced compensation for their land acquired by the state government, farmers had protested here Aug 13. Four of them had died and several were injured in clashes with police.

Dancer, lawyer, ten pin bowling champion, cricketer, web designer the selection made under Rahul Gandhi's talent hunt programme to choose the Congress's next line of leadership has brought to fore a whole lot of fresh and young politicians, hailing from a wide range of academic and professional backgrounds. Diversity apart, these young leaders, who were personally interviewed by the AICC general secretary in Delhi, have one thing in common none of them has any political background or patronage.

 Apparently, Rahul Gandhi had expressed his displeasure at the existing hero worship and lineage culture in the Congress and had ostensibly declined a ministerial berth in the Government to concentrate on improving the functioning of the youth wing of the party by selecting young leaders purely on merit.

Take the case of 26-year-old Manoj Kamble, a law graduate who was selected as National Students' Union of India (NSUI) leader from Pune. Talking to The Indian Express he said, "I am a Dalit. My father is an ordinary factory worker and I studied in a local college. In fact, I wasn't even expecting a call to appear for interviews in Delhi. But a couple of weeks after going through the entire procedure, Rahul Gandhi himself called me to say that I have been selected."

Kamble feels that his work as a social activist in Pimpri-Chinchwad area, which is Asia's largest municipal corporation, impressed the AICC general secretary. "Our area has a number of underprivileged children who don't have access to education after primary-level. I, along with a couple of friends, organised proper training for these children so that they were able to pursue higher studies."

Sources said that Soren may call on senior Congress leaders in Delhi and, if the talks were positive, he could follow it up by meeting Lalu Prasad.

Since few MLAs, specially the nine Independents, who wield power in the State politics, are ready to risk a mid-term election, the hard posturing by Lalu is seen as a ploy to make Soren dance to his tunes.

For the record, the Congress on Monday again reiterated that it would back Soren's bid to become Chief Minister if he could manage the numbers.

"We are with Soren. If he gets the numbers, we will support him," Congress spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters.

On the course of action in Jharkhand after the Congress backed Koda Government has been reduced to a minority, Tewari said, "It is up to the Governor to take a decision."

The spokesman said it was an evolving political situation in Jharkhand and the party would deal with it.

In reply to a question on the promises made to Soren in lieu of support of JMM during the July 22 trust vote, Tewari claimed that no promises were made - either regarding Coal Ministry or chief ministership.

Answering a volley of questions on its alleged ambivalence and inability to take a position, Tewari said the Congress has taken its stand but cannot take a position on behalf of the RJD or the Independents.

These agencies have been doing surveys in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for the last few weeks, according to Congress sources. The ruling party at the Centre has apparently adopted a three-tier approach in the candidate-selection process.

The PCC had earlier invited applications from ticket-seekers; there were around 5,000 applicants in Madhya Pradesh only. The Pradesh Election Committee would screen the applications and send the list of shortlisted candidates to the AICC. The second list of potential candidates is to be provided by the party's election observers. The third tier consists of these private surveyors who would not only assess the winnability of aspirants but would also add new names if necessary, sources said.

This has, however, caused heartburn among the local leadership as they think the new methodology of candidate selection would undermine their authority. "In the past, we have had private agencies to do surveys of the party's prospects in different constituencies. It is for the first time that they are assessing the prospects of individual candidates. There is nothing wrong with this process, but what is the credibility of these organisations? Do we know the background of the promoters of these agencies," a senior Congress leader from MP told The Indian Express over phone.

Another senior Congress leader involved in the exercise, however, defended the move saying that these agencies' surveys would give a better idea about the prospects of a particular candidate. "It is a more objective method of shortlisting the best candidates. Instead of relying on leaders who try to promote their own candidates, we will have an independent view about ticket-seekers," he said.

 The Congress and the SP are also set to have a six-member Coordination Committee on the lines of the UPA-Left body. The committee is likely to include four members from the Congress, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony, and two members from the SP, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh.

The decision to start formal talks on seat sharing arrangements with the SP was taken at a high-level meeting presided over by AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday, party sources said.

They said AICC general secretary in-charge of UP Digvijay Singh, PCC chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi and SP leader Amar Singh were slated to meet in the next few days to formalise a pre-poll alliance. This meeting will be held at some "secluded place" in Delhi, away from public glare, sources added.

Vice President Hamid Ansari, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit were among those who paid floral tributes to the former prime minister.

MP Rahul Gandhi and sister Priyanka Gandhi with her husband and children as they pay homage to Late Shri Rajiv Gandhi on his 64th birth anniversary at Vir Bhumi in New Delhi on Wednesday, August 20, 2008.

Gandhi along with her son and MP Rahul Gandhi, daughter Priyanka, her husband Robert Vadra and their two children were among the first to reach 'Vir Bhumi', the departed leader's memorial, to pay tributes.

 This was decided during an interactive session between office-bearers of these organisations and all AICC General Secretaries at the party headquarters here on Monday. A recently constituted task force consisting of IYC and NSUI office-bearers made powerpoint presentations on the activities initiated by Gandhi since he took charge of these organisations last September.

But there remain big question marks over implications and ramifications of the move for the grand old party. Even at the meetings of the `AICC Group to Look into Future Challenges', all talks of democracy have been limited to the PCC level with nobody raising the issue of introducing elections or democratisation at the AICC level. This is a clear indication that the so-called "nomination culture" is set to stay at the top echelons. Gandhi has already appointed over half-a-dozen state IYC and NSUI presidents before deciding to hold organisational elections in the two states.

Gandhi has set up seven teams of IYC and NSUI office-bearers to oversee membership programmes, training, performance management, organisational elections, ethics and aam admi ka sipahi (common man's army), among others. The idea behind the aam admi ka sipahi is to have committed party workers go door to door and ensure the implementation of government schemes and to become a "bridge" between the party and the youth.

Sonia Gandhi, flanking him, however, added emphatically and with a wide smile, "Certainly, I am saying, certainly."

At a time when the Congress has been agonising over whether to project a candidate for prime minister or go through the electoral exercise and select a prime minister as was done after the last general election when Gandhi renounced her claim to the seat, it seems the matter is settled.

Gandhi's statement is an assertion on the record for the benefit of the likes of Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh who have said that in their view, Rahul Gandhi is "not too young" to take up the responsibility of becoming PM. It is also a signal to others in the Congress who consider the PM "apolitical". At the same time, Gandhi is letting the party know who really calls the shots in the Congress.

This includes giving out a position to a north Indian to counter Raj Thakarey's anti-north propaganda in the state.

Manikrao Thakre was today appointed the new Congress chief of Maharashtra, while Gurudas Kamat will be the chairman of the state campaign committee. Jayant Awale has been named working president of the state PCC, while Kripa Shankar Singh is the chief of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC).

Thakre is from the Kunbi Maratha community, which is not very high on the caste set-up among the Maratha's. Awale is a Dalit and hails from kolhapur district of western Maharashtra. Kamat is an MP from Mumbai and was till recently the MRCC chief and managed to win several seats in the state capital.

Crucially, Kripa Shankar Singh is a migrant from UP, he has been given the charge of Mumbai at a time when the votes of north Indians constitute a major chunk in the city. Also north Indians have faced the ire of the Maharashtra Nav Nirman Sena chief Raj Thakeray, who launched his pro-maratha campaign and hounded out north Indians specially those from UP and Bihar.

The appointments were made by the party chief Sonia Gandhi ahead of the elections to the Lok Sabha and the state assembly. For Deshmukh, the new appointments mean a lot.

`Senior party leaders, including Kamal Nath, Digvijay Singh, Ajay Singh, Shrinivas Tiwari, Satyavrat Chaturvedi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Suresh Pachauri, Kantilal Bhuria and others, have already given their consent to attend the meet at Chhindwara on Aug 22,' state Congress general secretary Rajiv Singh told IANS.

`Central Minister Arjun Singh will not be able to attend the meet due to health reasons, but his son and MLA Ajay Singh will be present,' he said.

The meet reminds many of the Dabra convention.

`The Dabra convention, organised in 1993 at the behest of the late Madhavrao Scindia, is considered a milestone in the recent history of the Congress in the state as it led to the public reposing faith in the party during the 1993 and 1998 assembly polls as it conveyed a message of unity among state leaders,' recalled a state Congress leader.

`The need of a similar convention was being felt to bring all the warring factions in the state Congress together if the BJP is to be thrown out of power,' he said.