CWC meets to discuss poll strategy and possible tie-ups

With a series of Assembly elections scheduled in the next few months to be followed by the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) today met to take stock of the political situation and discuss possible alliances to hammer out a winning strategy.

More than 150 delegates, comprising party General Secretaries, Secretaries, CWC members, PCC Presidents, CLP leaders along with Union Ministers deliberated on the political scenario, Indo-US nuclear deal, inflation and flood situation in Bihar and some other parts of the country.

The brain storming session, the first after the UPA's victory in the July 22 trust vote and the end of the nuclear apartheid, discussed the party's preparedness to face the elections in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhatisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir and Mizoram.

The meeting, chaired by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and his senior party colleagues in the Cabinet including Pranab Mukherjee, Shivraj Patil and P Chidambaram.

AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi was among the other prominent party leaders who attended the day-long meeting.

The CWC also discussed the necessity of alliances in the current political scenario and the number of seats it should contest in the Lok Sabha elections in the states where it is opting for such electoral tie-ups.