Congress' 85th Plenary Session Begins In Raipur Today; Gandhis To Skip Key Meet On CWC Polls: 10 Points

Raipur: The Congress' 85th plenary session will begin on Friday with a meeting of the party's steering committee during which the crucial decision on holding CWC polls would be taken. The party is expected to take key decisions during the three-day session that would lay out a clear roadmap for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and finalize the strategy on forging poll tie-ups with like-minded parties to take on the BJP. The Congress top brass will be in attendance at the plenary session that will primarily endorse the presidentship of Mallikarjun Kharge and pave the way for the new working committee led by him. On the first day of the three-day session, the steering committee, which is playing the role of the Working Committee (the previous one was dissolved until a new CWC is formed), will meet at 10 AM this morning and decide on whether there will be elections to the top decision-making body or not.

Here are ten points on Congress' 85th Plenary Session:

1. The Gandhis are skipping the party`s steering committee meeting. Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are expected to land in the state capital in the afternoon.

2. The session, which comes in the backdrop of the Bharat Jodo Yatra that has been touted as a success by the party, will be attended by around 15,000 delegates. 

3. The Congress on Thursday said that it is ready to hold elections to the CWC -- where 12 members are elected.

4. After the steering committee meeting, there will be a meeting of the subjects committee at 4 pm the same day in which six resolutions will be considered. These resolutions will be discussed on February 25 and 26.

5. On February 25, resolutions related to political, economic and international matters will be discussed 

6. On February 26, resolutions related to agriculture and farmers welfare; social justice and empowerment; and youth, employment and education will be discussed.

7. On February 26, there will be a speech by the Congress President at 2 pm and a public meeting will be held at 4 pm, he had said.

8. The plenary session comes at a time when the Congress faces unprecedented challenges electorally and even to its primacy in the Opposition bloc.

9. While the Congress hopes to stitch an anti-BJP front for 2024 polls having said that it alone has the moral and the organizational power to lead it, clouds of disunity are hovering over it.

10. The TMC, BRS and AAP appear reluctant to accept the Congress stewardship and BRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao has been holding his own parleys to rein in the BJP.

(With agency inputs)