Pledging without the PM

Apart from usual administrative responsibilities, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will miss a key meeting of the party arranged to gear up for the general elections. The party has organised a convention of block congress committees and district congress committees on February 8 in New Delhi. All state unit chiefs, legislative party leaders, Congress chief ministers and representatives of the related organisations of the party have been invited. In the past, all major programmes of the Congress contained the prime minister’s speech along with party President Sonia Gandhi’s address to the workers. This time, the prime minister will be taking rest while the party will pledge to work hard to bring him back to power.