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The NCP despite having limited presence in Bihar, plans to contest as many assembly seats as practically possible. To widen its support base NCP chief and Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar is expected to make a whirlwind tour of the state prior to the assembly election scheduled in October-November.

"The party seriously wants to expand its base in Hindi heartland and this process will begin with the Bihar assembly polls," NCP general secretary Tariq Anwar told TOI on Tuesday.

He said the NCP is sharing power with the Congress in Mahrashtra and Goa and has considerable presence in Gujarat, north-east and Orissa. "We want to have an alliance with the Congress in Bihar also, but if the party will show no interest we will contest on our own strength," Anwar said.

Source: Times Of India By Faizan Ahmad NCP wants to tie up with Cong

She had then shared the dais with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) boss Lalu Prasad and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar as part of the Secular Democratic Front of which the CPM was also a member.

Gandhi's rally would be show of strength for the Congress that has been out of power in the state for the past two decades, and currently having only 10 members in the 234-member Bihar assembly.

"There are certainly winds of change in Bihar. And the rally will determine whether those winds are in favour of Congress," a senior party leader said.

The Bihar unit is leaving no stone unturned to make the public meeting a grand success.

Source: Hindustan Times By Aurangzeb Naqshbandi, Cong all set for Bihar blitz

The young Congress ministers in the UPA government have been sounded that they would be drafted for key role in the exercise to revive the party in West Bengal. "The young Congress ministers like Union ministers of state Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada and Sachin Pilot are being roped in for sustained party work in the state. They will be given certain districts to work with the party workers to build base before the state goes to the poll next year," stated a senior party leader.

Mr Scindia is Union minister of state for commerce, while Mr Pilot is an MoS in the telecom ministry and Mr Prasada is an MoS in the petroleum ministry.
Along with these three young minister, Mr Gandhi is also roping in young party MPs like Kurukshetra MP Navin Jindal also for West Bengal work. Another young MP, Birendra Singh, is also being drafted as part of the exercise.

As part of a multi-pronged exercise, Mr Gandhi has already deputed 11 senior leaders from within the Youth Congress in various parts of the state to prepare grounds for the young ministers to work on. "Among the 11 Youth Congress leaders who are already camping in the state are Mastan Ali, Anil Thomas, Alok Sharma, Usha Rani, Anand Pandey, Neeta Sharma, Bishwa Ranjan Mohanty, Nadeem Javed (Youth Congress in-charge of West Bengal). Their brief from Mr Gandhi is to prepare a road map on how to rebuild the organisation and how to revamp the party in the state before the Assembly elections," sources said.

Party functionaries said though they have been told the Congress would contest the West Bengal Assembly polls in alliance with the Trinamul Congress, Mr Gandhi wants the party to emerge a serious contender.
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"The clear focus is to bring back the minorities and the backward castes to support the party," added the functionary.

It would enable the candidates to understand the problems of their constituents and connect with them. The move would also give them sufficient time for poll preparations.

The polls are  considered crucial for the Congress to re-emerge as the single dominant force at the Centre.

Congress managers believe that there is a strong existence of a Congress undercurrent in several parts of Uttar Pradesh where the party held sway for the first four decades after independence and was voted out of power in 1989. At present,

the party has 22 legislators in the 403-member state assembly.

Congress general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Digvijay Singh said the poll preparations have already begun with the party appointing 10 observers who would be given charge of at least 40 assembly constituencies.

Source: Hindustan Times By Aurangzeb Naqshbandi Cong to name candidates one year before polls

Mr Pawar is likely to continue with his present responsibilities, but he will get one or two ministers of state (MoS) to oversee three crucial departments of agriculture, food and consumer affairs.

The key vacancy in the external affairs ministry, after Shashi Tharoor's exit in April could be filled by MoS in commerce ministry Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi's phone call to LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan to greet him on his 64th birthday on Monday has signalled he could find a place in the Cabinet although sources close to Mr Paswan ruled out the possibility. There are also reports that RLD chief Ajit Singh could find a berth in the Cabinet with the Congress looking at expanding its base among the Jats.

With the Opposition gunning for telecom minister A. Raja accusing him of corruption, the PM and the Congress leadership may take a call on his fate in consultation with DMK chief K. Karunanidhi.

In the process of donning a corporate look, outsourcing has become the new mantra for the grand old party of India.

Taking a leaf from the private sector, the 125-year-old Congress has decided to trim its workforce and outsource jobs to up efficiency and cut down on salary expenses.

As a first step, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has offered a "golden handshake" to its 134 permanent employees. Its total staff strength is 300.

"As the number of employees in AICC is more than is actually required, it is proposed to reduce the numbers," said an AICC circular, a copy of which is with HT.

"The Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) is a step in that direction," said the circular drafted by AICC Treasurer Motilal Vora.

letters@hindustantimes.com

Source: Hindustan Times By Aurangzeb Naqshbandi Congress Goes Corporate, Golden Handshake To 134 Employees

Senior party leaders and Union ministers Ghulam Nabi Azad, C P Joshi, Anand Sharma, Sri Prakash Jaiswal, Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Krishna Tirath and Bharatsinh Solanki are being sent to the state to hold meetings organized by the party's state unit to boost the morale of the Congress workers.

Union minister and AICC general secretary, in-charge Bihar, Mukul Wasnik will visit Gaya and Jehanabad on July 3 and address district-level convention of party workers. Wasnik would also visit Ara and Buxar on July 4 and Bhabhua and Sasaram on July 5 to attend the workers' conven-tion there.

Scindia will visit Vaishali and Patna on July 7 while Jaiswal would visit Siwan, Gopalganj and Bettiah on July 13 and 14. Union minister Sachin Pilot would visit Arwal, Jehanabad, Nalanda and Bakhtiyarpur on July 16 and 17 while Union minister Krishna Tirath would visit Khagaria, Saharsa and Madhepura on July 14 and 15 where she would address party workers.

Source: Times Of India By Alok Mishra Congress gears up for polls

Jat leader Birender Singh, known better for his "freestyle" speech and hard talk, is expected to file his nomination papers on June 29 at the Haryana Vidhan Sabha in the presence of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee president Phool Chand Mullana.

Though Birender Singh's candidature was almost certain right from the beginning with the CM's detractors, including Union Minister Selja lobbying hard for him, a number of other names like Mullana's were doing the rounds in the run-up to the decision.

Sources maintain that though Birender Singh's name had been cleared almost a week ago by the party high command, the party was awaiting the arrival of the Congress in charge of Haryana affairs, Prithvi Raj Chavan, who was abroad, before making it public.

Sources said Birender Singh, a five-time MLA and one-time MP, who ruffled quite a few feathers in state politics in his last term as Finance Minister with his plain speaking, was informed of his "selection" this afternoon.

Source: The Tribune By Geetanjali Gayatri Birender Singh gets RS ticket

AICC members S. Ahmed and Jagdish Thakral, who represented the three-member state election authority at the meeting, announced the schedule before the District Congress Committee (DCC) presidents at Rajiv Bhawan here. State election authority chairman S. Chopra, could not make it to the meeting.

Accordingly, booth committee elections will be held on July 5, block committee elections on July 10 while DCC polls on July 21.

Though the date for the election of the PCC president has not yet been fixed, the process is likely to be completed within July 31, Thakral said, an observation shared by incumbent PCC president Bhubaneswar Kalita.

Kalita is currently heading the "ad hoc" body though his three-year term ended in 2008.

Source: The Telegraph July date for Assam PCC elections

In her "Letter to Congresspersons" in the latest issue of party mouthpiece Congress Sandesh, Sonia said, "The Congress has launched mass contact programme in the country with special attention on Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Our workers must concentrate on reaching out to the people especially in rural and remote parts of the country so that the party's focus on the common man genuinely addresses their needs."

Sonia said the party workers should take the social welfare schemes to the grassroots. "It is the duty of our party workers to ensure that all schemes promulgated by the UPA Government at the Centre are fully implemented at the grassroots. Our workers can become the vehicles for the success of all our social development programmes. They must create awareness on the rights, such as Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, Right to Information and the Right to Education, which have become law. They should also monitor the implementation of these programmes at the village and grassroots level and take the lead in exposing any loopholes or corruption that can mar the impact of these programmes," Sonia has written.

Source: The Pioneer Sonia asks party to regain ground in UP, Bihar

Referring to the recent developments, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said, "It is not as if Bihar Chief Minister has recused himself from the circle of questions. After all he ran the Government for four years eight months with the help of the BJP."

Asked whether the Congress is open to an alliance with the JD(U) if it splits with the BJP, Tewari said that a senior party leader has already replied on it. AICC general secretary incharge of Bihar Mukul Wasnik had said that the party will go solo in Bihar Assembly election. "(Nitish) Kumar's real communal face has been exposed during the national executive meeting of the BJP," Wasnik said on Monday addressing party workers in Kishanganj, Bihar.

The Congress said that with the BJP's alliance partners in NDA deserting it before State Assembly election, the NDA had ceased to exist. "In 2004, people of India rejected NDA. In 2009, the rejection was decisively reiterated. In Orissa, the Biju Janata Dal decided to part ways with the NDA. In Jharkhand we saw the BJP making a spectacle of itself in the scramble for power. One thing has become absolutely clear, the NDA as an alliance has ceased to exist. It may exist on paper but in reality, it is almost finished.

The rap that Nitish Kumar had given to the BJP clearly shows the alliance is over," Tewari said. Since people have rejected communalism, NDA's allies are now "scurrying for cover", the Congress spokesperson said.

A meeting was held recently to discuss the mobilisation of Biharis residing in large numbers in the Mumbai-Thane belt.

MPCC vice-president and spokesman Hussain Dalwai told PTI that the committee would comprise seven to eight members. They would reach out to the Bihari population settled in Maharashtra and utilise them for campaigning in the polls.

MPCC president Manikrao Thakre, while speaking at the meeting, stressed the need for Congress to form the next government in Bihar so that infrastructure development which has begun with the funds from central government is expedited at the earliest.

He said to impart training, master coaches would be selected from every assembly constituency and two master coaches would work in a Lok Sabha constituency for 5 years. During this period, they would not get a ticket to contest elections. The first training camp would be held in Haryana, he said.

Jawahar Lal Nehru Institute of Leadership will organise a five-day training camp where master coaches will play an important role in imparting training to campers.

The schedule for holding district-wise screening camps has been given. On June 24, screening would be held at Gurgaon for Gurgaon, Faridabad and Mewat, on June 25, it would be done at Hisar for Hisar, Bhiwani and Sirsa and on June 26 the venue would be at Kurukshetra covering Kuruksehra, Karnal, Ambala and Sonepat.

TRS president K Chandrasekhara Rao told a party meeting in Hyderabad on Wednesday that his request to the Congress and TDP -- to ensure unanimous election of the 12 MLAs who had resigned for the sake of Telangana -- had been misconstrued as a weakness.

"However, now that the Congress and TDP have decided to contest, I will not make any more requests to them. Their decision has exposed their real anti-Telangana faces and the people were also waiting to teach them an unforgettable lesson," he said.

Rao exuded confidence on the TRS sweeping all seats as its MLAs had made a sacrifice by resigning for the sake of Telangana State. "People have made up their minds to re-elect them," he said.

His reaction came a day after State Congress president D Srinivas met AICC president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi and told the media that the party leadership had given him the go-ahead to start preparations for the poll. Srinivas, who was personally in favour of contesting the elections, also met AICC general secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh.

Source: The Pioneer By Omer Farooq Congress, TDP set to contest

The Congress on Monday announced the names of 39 central observers for the state.

The observers include over 10 MPs and about a dozen legislators, who would stay in districts they are allotted and work as the ears and eyes of the high command. Significantly, not a single woman leader figured in the list of observers.

According to insiders, the elections are going to be tricky mainly because the JD(U)-BJP combine is not cohesive while RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has not been able to expand his party's constituency outside Yadavs. On the other hand, the votes of minorities and upper castes would split into two to three parties, they feared.

If the BJP's Hindutva line and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi's attempts to become a main campaigner would weaken Mr Kumar and his JD(U), Mr Lalu Yadav continues to be the main target of the ruling combine. Even the Congress does not want to ally with him after realising that he is still a liability politically.

Source: The Asian Age No woman in list of 39 Cong observers