AICC

Organised by the Legal and Human Rights Department of the Congress on March 27, the conference will have three sessions. Gandhi will inaugurate the first session on "Law, justice and the Common man", while Singh will preside over it.

"Around 1400 lawyers and human rights activists from every district and state will participate in the function. We intend to have another such meeting soon with the participation of 5000 people," Abhishek Singhvi, the chairman of the Legal and Human Rights Department, said.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, home minister P Chidambaram, other ministers and state chief ministers will attend the meet, the first of its kind after the merger of the party's Legal and Human Rights Departments in April 2009. The other two sessions would be on terrorism and law, and reform of the legal system to benefit the common man.

<b>Source: DNA</b><a href=http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_congress-to-organise-convention-to-consolidate-support-among-lawyers_1353442> <I>Congress to organise convention to consolidate support among lawyers</i></a>

Sami to address the meeting
Congress General Secretary and state in-charge V Narayan Sami would address the meeting. Apart from Central Ministers Arjun Singh, Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Kantilal Bhuria, General Secretary Digvijay Singh, MPCC President Suresh Pachauri, Leader of Opposition in State Assembly Jamuna Devi, Election Campaign Committee President Ajit Singh, Deputy Leader in Assembly Harvansh Singh, former MPCC President Subhash Yadav, State Congress General Secretary Rajiv Singh would also attend the meeting.

Points to be discussed
Selection process of candidates for 29 Lok Sabha seats would start soon. For this purpose election committee has to be constituted. Other main point is the increasing influence of BSP in the state. What type of criteria should be adopted while selecting candidates who are with clean images and have chance to win? This meeting may be beneficial to bring unity among the faction leaders. The meeting may also make a policy to tackle the internal rivalry. The Congress President had a meeting with Sami on last Saturday. Another aim of the meeting is to inform the state leaders about the AICC President's directives to the state leaders.

Observers would be Hindi speaking
The observers being selected for the 29 seats in the state are leaders at the grassroots level in Hindi speaking states. They are either present or past MPs or MLAs in their states. They would go to each divisions.

DCC Presidents' reports
MPCC President Suresh Pachauri had meetings with the PCC Presidents recently. These meetings were held in connection with selection of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. The PCC Presidents were asked to suggest 3 names each from the districts as probable candidates. The results of these meetings may be presented before the observers.

Sami had sent letters to the leaders to attend the meeting. No agenda of the meeting has been mentioned in it. Rajiv Singh has confirmed that the agenda would be known at the time of meeting.

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Party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi also refuted Mr. Singh's statement regarding his opposition to the Emergency: "Mr. Arjun Singh is a senior leader but we do not recollect him indicating anything about his opposition to the Emergency. Perhaps our memory is dim, but no one can remember anything," he said in answer to a question.

Mr. Singhvi said that since Mr. Singh himself had said -- in a statement issued by him on Sunday -- that the episode was a closed chapter for him, it was a closed chapter for the party as well. "We have nothing to say."When pressed for a reaction he, however, said: "If anything, the Congress has been accused of too much democracy, too much discussions, too much give-and-take and too much of multi-lateral and multi-level decision-making. Therefore, his charges cannot but be baseless." Mr. Singhvi said the person who opened the chapter had himself closed it, so all queries must be addressed to him.

Asked about the deluge of reactions from Congressmen to Mr. Singh's remarks, he said it was a free country and a free party.

He, however, added that there was no move for any disciplinary action against Mr. Singh. "It is a closed chapter."

He said the party felt and recognised the pains of those who were left out in the race for party tickets for the ensuing election, but they should understand that the AICC's sole criterion for distributing tickets to aspirants was the "winnability" of a candidate.

Thomas said there were leaders who were not part of the Government at the Centre but were in no way less capable than Union ministers.

On resentment among some members of the Congress women cell, Thomas said the party asked its lady workers to apply for tickets, but only a single aspirant lobbied for a particular constituency where the chances of winning of the nominated male candidate seemed to be more.

Tiwari (42), has long organisational experience having served the two youth frontal organisations of the party. He was president of NSUI from 1988 to 1993 and president of Indian Youth Congress from 1998 to 2000.

The Congress leader from Punjab is at present serving his fourth stint as secretary of the AICC. He had unsuccessfully contested the last Lok Sabha polls from Ludhiana.

Comprising former ministers and MLAs associated with former Chief Ministers Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal, the list also includes the name of Pratap Chautala, brother of Indian National Lok Dal supremo Om Prakash Chautala, as its general secretary.

The list, prepared "under the dynamic leadership and directions of Kuldeep Bishnoi", continues to be silent about the president of the party. It has former ministers Surinder Madan, Brij Mohan Singla, Devender Sharma and Hassan Mohammad and former MLAs Narain Singh Balmiki and Ran Singh Beniwal besides Umed Singh Kashyap as its vice-presidents.

Of the 37 general secretaries of the party, which far exceeds the number of district presidents appointed by the party, former ministers who have made it to the list include Subhash Batra, Narbir Singh, Satnarain Lathor, Om Prakash Jain, Bijender Kadiyan, Dr Dharamvir Yadav, Jaswant Bawal, Tek Chand Nain and Shanti Rathi.

While the jumbo-sized executive has 140 members in addition to 87 secretaries, sources in the party said that efforts had been made to accommodate senior leaders without compromising on delivery.

In contrast to the list of district presidents, where a sizeable chunk of posts were given to the youth, this list "makes an effort to gain from the experience of senior leaders". While the names of eight women have made it to the second list, "adequate care" has been taken to balance the caste equation among non-Jats and members drawn from diverse backgrounds though the Jats have also got representation.

Addressing a rally at the Jhansi Fort grounds, the AICC general secretary said: "My father, Rajiv Gandhi, had once said that less than 15 paisa of the Re 1 the Centre sends to states, reaches the common man. I have toured several districts of Bundelkhand during my visit and have met over 25,000 people. I wonder if five paisa is reaching the poor in these areas."

Gandhi said the UP Government has not responded well to the people's difficulty.

He said, "Nearly 2,000 farmers have committed sui- cide in the last few years, but the Government has failed to utilise central funds." He pointed out that 200 farmers had died during the tenure of Mayawati. Gandhi said, "I request Mayawati to visit these areas and see what her Government has done for these people," adding, that her administration was in a "state of collapse".

On central aid, the Congress leader also said the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has failed to take off in any of the districts in UP. "If this scheme had been executed sincerely, the poor - particularly Dalits and disadvantaged sections would have benefitted immensely. People have got job cards under this scheme, but not a single day's work," Gandhi said. He added that states will have to take the responsibility of utilising the money released through cen tral schemes.

Reacting to Mayawati's an nouncement of a special package for the region, Rahul Gandhi said it needs to be seen how this promise ultimately percolates down to the people.

Indira, the undisputed Congress supremo and Prime Minister, was annoyed by the question, asking the journalist the point of it.

When the AICC session gets underway on Saturday morning at the Capital's Talkatora Stadium, there will clearly be an air of deja vu. Almost a quarter of a century later, the scene will hark back to the curiosity and expectations about another Gandhi-Nehru scion sharing the platform with a watchful mother taking charge of the proceedings as party chief.

Though Sonia Gandhi is in full command of Congress, there is no doubt in any quarter that son Rahul is going to play a decisive role in party affairs from now on.

Ever since his appointment as one of the general secretaries through a recent organisational reshuffle, he has been involved in party affairs, taking interest in different aspects of its functioning.

Undoubtedly, the party session will set off the process of a generational switchover in the organisation. ``With an emerging young leader, the new generation will come under the focus,'' said a party functionary.

Congress has already stressed the younger profile of the country, pointing out that a majority of the Indians are below 40.

The 22-member committee is headed by UPPCC chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi and has among its members AICC general secretaries Mohsina Kidwai and Janardan Dwivedi along with Ma- havir Prasad, Ram Naresh Yaday, Salman Khursheed, Sriprakash Jaiswal, Rajiv Shukla and Jitin Prasad.

AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh, who is in charge of Congress affairs in UP, is a special invitee in the committee along with the party secretary in charge of the state.

Party sources indicated Rahul will be involved in the upcoming Assembly polls in Gujarat. Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh has given him a feedback on party affairs in Maharashtra and Gujarat.

In the backdrop of negotiations with Gujrat BJP rebels, the party high command has convened a meeting with state party leaders at New Delhi on Wednesday Senior party leaders Prithviraj Chavan, Vyalar Ravi and BK Hari Prasad are scheduled to be present. According to Prasad, AICC leaders are also scheduled to meet the Gujarat BJP rebels at New Delhi on October 24.

Party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said that while the previous meeting on August 20, 2004 was an extended meeting of the CWC, today's meeting was entirely devoted to organisational matters. The meeting, where senior Congress leader and defence minister Pranab Mukherjee was also present, was attended by almost all the PCC chiefs, Mr Dwivedi added. The meeting also discussed the functioning of the task force on panchayati raj and it was felt that such bodies should be constituted at state and district levels in line with the one at the national level.

A review was carried out on the implementation of nine-point action plan mooted at the AICC meeting in August this year, Mr Dwivedi said adding that all PCC chiefs were asked to submit their report vis-a-vis the plan. The nine-point programme includes formation of task force on Naxalite violence in tribal regions, involvement of party workers and frontal organisations in propagation of right to information campaign, launching of padayatras to establish mass contact and re-activation of Intuc.

The exercise of delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies were also discussed at the meeting where the PCC presidents were asked to point out if there were any major flaws in the job.

• AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh,
• Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyer,
• former Union Minister D P Yadav,
• INTUC leader Rajendra Singh,
• Shantben Chavda and
• Aliya Zuberi.

The party expects a rush of new entrants as the party is back in power at the Centre. But enthusiasm in UP for Congress membership has surprised the central leadership. As many as 87 lakh people have filled the enrolment forms in the state with 45 days more still to go for enrolment closure scheduled for November 15.

The organisational polls of the Congress down the years have given rise to many controversies, including that of bogus membership. Perhaps in a bid to avoid any row over bogus membership, the AICC reportedly has not set state-specific targets. But, the Congress hopes to enrol 1.5 crore new primary members to take its overall tally to five crores. After the membership drive, the exercise of scrutinising membership forms and submitting the fees at various levels will begin. After that, elections will be conducted for primary, block, district and pradesh panels. This process will be completed by April 30, 2005. Thereafter, the party president will be elected.