Sonia to address CPP meet on Thursday

Unrest in Kashmir and Commonwealth Games preparations are expected to find a mention when Congress President Sonia Gandhi addresses a meeting of Congress Parliamentary Party in New Delhi on Thursday.

The meeting takes place a day after the nuclear liability bill was tabled in both Houses of Parliament on Wednesday after the United Progressive Alliance succeeded in securing the main opposition BJP's support for it.

The issue is likely to figure in her speech in the meeting as also the coming assembly elections in Bihar.

The party has so far refrained from backing Chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Suresh Kalmadi, who is a Congress MP. Kalmadi is also the secretary of the Congres Parliamentary Party.

This will be the first meeting of CPP since the monsoon session of Parliament began on July 26. It could not be held earlier as Gandhi, who is the CPP chairperson, was in the US attending to her ailing mother.

Earlier a meeting of Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Monday finalised the schedule for the party chief's election and Gandhi is all set to be re-elected as the Congress President on September 17.

Gandhi has created a record by being at the helm of the party since April 1998 and she is set to get a fourth term. The CWC meeting had also expressed concern over the Kashmir unrest and Home Minister P Chidambaram was specially called to brief the CWC about the prevailing situation in the valley.

The PM and union cabinet ministers are scheduled to attend the meeting. Interestingly, Jaganmohan Reddy  who is in Delhi is expected to attend and remain silent during Sonia's speech. His supporters have suggested that he do nothing to precipitate his differences with the Congress high command.

Additional Inputs: PTI