Sonia, Rahul to seek feedback from people for Cong manifesto

Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are expected to be in Rae Bareli on this Wednesday for a meeting with people to seek their direct feedback for the party's manifesto for the next Lok Sabha polls.
A meeting of the manifesto committee of the party is scheduled there to seek petitions from people on the suggestions to be incorporated in the document to make it an inclusive affair.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi has been telling partymen for quite some time that there is a need to involve people from grassroot in policy-making and inputs should also be taken from block Congress committees when the party finalises the manifesto.

This was one of the highlights of his speech during Congress' 'Chintan Shivir' held in Jaipur in January this year when he was anointed the party's Vice-President.
Gandhi has also advocated for evolving a system that the suggestions are collated subject-wise and then considered for inclusion in the manifesto.
In a rally in Alwar, Rajasthan, on October 23, Gandhi had launched the party website https://bsmedia.business-standard.comwww.Incmanifesto.In, which opens with a declaration by Congress.

The website says, "We invite every citizen of India to give us their ideas and suggestions for the 2014 Lok Sabha Election Manifesto of the Congress Party. The Congress is the first party to open up its national manifesto-building process to the general public.

"In addition to this website, the Congress Party is holding direct public consultations across the country to empower the voice of those who do not have access to the Internet. All ideas and suggestions you provide will be presented to the national leadership of the Congress and will be duly considered for inclusion in the manifesto. Your voice will build the Congress manifesto."
In the second meeting of Congress' manifesto committee, headed by Union Minister A K Antony last month, Gandhi had told the leaders that suggestions from the people should be incorporated and there is a need to look at the issues seriously.

Antony, P Chidambaram, Sushilkumar Shinde, Anand Sharma, Salman Khurshid, Sandeep Dikshit, Ajit Jogi, Renuka Chowdhary, P L Punia, Mohan Gopal, Jairam Ramesh and Digvijay Singh are members of the manifesto committee.
The panel had first met on August 9, which was "merely an exchange of views on issues".