Non-BJP chief ministers holding the home portfolios are Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Nitish Kumar (Bihar), Naveen Patnaik (Odisha) and MK Stalin (Tamil Nadu).
'It was disappointing on two counts. One is on the leadership issue and second is how the Congress must win elections.'
The much-talked about 'chintan shivir' of Congress, to introspect serious issues including corruption, is likely to take place next month in Rajasthan.
At the meeting, presentations were made by Union ministers Mansukh Mandaviya and Dharmendra Pradhan on efficiency and time management. Four more such "Chintan Shivirs" will be held for further improving governance, they said.
After the Chintan Shivir and the All India Congress Committee meeting is over in Jaipur on January 20, it is expected that there would be a reshuffle of the AICC, state Pradesh Congress Committees. Some chief ministerial heads may also roll as the party prepares for the assembly elections later this year and the general elections in 2014. Renu Mittal reports.
Senior Congress leaders Venugopal, Ajay Maken and Ashok Gehlot had on Wednesday took stock of the preparations for the Chintan Shivir.
Faced with poll debacle in four states, the Congress is expected to hold a 'chintan shivir'.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Ajit Pawar on Friday said the party was still part of the Mahayuti alliance because of mutual respect among allies and its commitment to the state's progress.
In her inaugural address at the party's 'Chintan Shivir' in Udaipur, she urged delegates to deliberate with an open mind and send out a clear message of strong organisation and unity.
Gandhi said around 400 Congress members will be attending the Chintan Shivir in Udaipur from May 13 to 15 and stressed on the message of every leader holding one party post.
With the victory over FDI in multi-brand retail in Parliament, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance is now gearing up for the party's all important 'Chintan Shivir' (brainstorming camp) next month.
The party, the sources said, has also approved 50 per cent representation to SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities at all levels of the organisation, as part of its social engineering efforts to win the confidence of the weaker and oppressed sections of society.
Renu Mittal gives us glimpses from the opening ceremony of Congress' Chintan Shivir in Jaipur which saw party general secretary Rahul Gandhi taking part in group deliberations`
Rahul Gandhi has occupied the centre-stage at the Congress 'Chintan Shivir' in Jaipur, as a majority of the Congressmen have demanded that he should be named as the Prime Ministerial candidate.
On the eve of the much-hyped Chintan Shivir in the pink city, economic issues are back with a bang on the agenda with Union Oil Minister Veerapa Moily choosing to deregulate the price of diesel and allowing oil companies to affect increase in the price of diesel, in the same manner as had happened with petrol. Renu Mittal reports.
Tharoor, among the group of 23 leaders who had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi in 2020 seeking large-scale reforms, said 'reformists' at the end of the day wanted a more consultative process where a wide variety of voices would be heard and taken into account before decisions were made.
The Congress is likely to enforce the 'One family, one ticket' formula granting exemption to only another family member who has been doing 'exemplary work' for the party for a period of at least five years, as the grand old party promised big ticket changes while acknowledging that it had not kept pace with changing times.
Sending out a clear message to Congress ranks, Sonia said the party will have to change its style of functioning with changing times and urged them to keep the organisation above their personal ambitions.
'Rahul Gandhi wants a group under the name 'new generation'. But look at the people who surround him.'
Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the 'Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir' is also aimed at deliberating on challenges facing the country such as "freefall of the economy", increasing inequality of wealth, price rise of essential commodities, "deep-rooted conspiracy" to hand over farming sector to a select group of private corporates, "attack on India's territorial integrity by China, "attack" on rights of Dalits, SCs/STs, minorities and attempts to divide by using Hindu-Muslim rhetoric.
In the latest changes made by the Congress before the Chintan Shivir, former Karnataka Chief Minister and former Foreign Minister S M Krishna has been dropped as the chairman of the sub-group on foreign policy titled India and the world and instead Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has been put in his place.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi also decided to convene a 'Chintan Shivir', a brainstorming session from May 13-15 in Udaipur.
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has worked for weeks to prepare speeches and the Congress' Jaipur Declaration. "This is the Obama moment of the Congress, where the party is re-energised with the rise of young leadership," he said.
A sulking former external affairs minister S M Krishna, who was recently made a permanent invitee of the Congress working committee, will skip the party's Chintan Shivir in Jaipur this week.
Breaking away from tradition, several young Congress leaders are expected to speak at the AICC Chintan Shivir being held in Jaipur, reports Renu Mittal
The Congress Working Committee, the party's top-decision making body, would soon meet to deliberate further on the Chintan Shivir plans, the sources said.
"They (BJP) should announce their leader. They are fighting like cats and dogs. We are having our 'Chintan Shivir' here, they can't even hold a 'Shivir' like this because they are the puppets of RSS what will they think. They are anxious, but they very well twisted the words and said that it's not Congress's 'Chintan Shivir' but the Congress is nervous. This is their thinking. The people have rejected them," Congress MP Mani Shankar Aiyar said.
Preparations for the Congress's Chintan Shivir -- which will be held in Jaipur on January 18-19 followed by the meeting of the All India Congress Committee on January 20 -- have entered a decisive stage with senior party leaders burning the midnight oil to iron out the creases and finalise last-minute details.
Noting that a very important policy for advancement of SCs and STs was Schedules Caste Sub-Plan and Tribal Sub-Plan, Raju said the group has recommended a central and states' legislation on them.
Implementation of sports bill in 6 months, regulation of participation standard safeguard: Mandaviya
Clubbed with Thailand, Bangladesh and Malaysia in Group A, India comfortably advanced to the final, defeating Bangladesh 64-23, Thailand 76-21, and Malaysia 73-19 to top their pool with three wins.
Many in the Congress feel that holding meetings at the block, district and state levels would reveal the real reasons for the Congress's defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal reports
The Centre on Tuesday asked the UPSC to withdraw the latest advertisement for lateral entry in bureaucracy, amid a row over reservation in the advertised posts.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur, addressing over 100 communication officers of the government, stressed on the importance of reaching out to all sections of the society, particularly the underprivileged.
The Congress leader said that the party has taken up the "biggest task" of fighting against the "dictatorial government" alleging that there is an "emergency-like situation" in the country.
Pointing out the possibilities of social media, Modi said that one should not limit it to being the source of information.
Speaking at the concluding day of the three-day brainstorming session, Chintan Shivir, in Udaipur, Sonia Gandhi said, "We will launch a national Kanyakumari to Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra beginning on Gandhi Jayanti this year. All of us will participate in it."
Sources privy to the meeting told PTI that the top brass and other senior commanders of these forces were asked to keep a strict vigil against any illegal encroachment taking place in their respective areas of operations.
Priyanka was in Lucknow on Wednesday to address a state-level 'Chintan Shivir' and returned to Delhi on Thursday.
Ashok Gehlot, widely seen as the Congress's ruling family's nominee for the Congress president's post, bunged a spanner in the works when his MLA supporters submitted their resignations on Sunday night to assembly Speaker C P Joshi.
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