The Hindu : National : Congress to resume Chief Ministers' conclave

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Wednesday, Feb 16, 2005

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National

Congress to resume Chief Ministers' conclave

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 15. The Congress plans to resume the practice of holding the Chief Ministers' conclave of the States where it is in power. This is to review the work undertaken by the governments and the political situation in the country.

There is a proposal that the conclave could be held either next month or in April after taking into account the scheduled Dandi Yatra between March 12 and April 6 and the recess during the budget session of Parliament, party sources say.

The conclave assumes importance since it would be the first time the exercise be undertaken after the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government came to power at the Centre. During the previous years, the party president, Sonia Gandhi, chaired the Chief Ministers' meetings in New Delhi, Guwahati and Mount Abu.

It is through such meetings that the Congress has tried to institutionalise and coordinate activities in the States where it has a government. The party comes up with an agenda for action based on the deliberations besides reviewing the performance of the State Government vis-à-vis the promises made in the party manifesto.

The Congress Governments are ruling 14 States, including Goa, besides sharing power with the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar and the People's Democratic Party in Jammu and Kashmir. The line-up could change after the counting of votes for the Assemblies of Bihar, Haryana and Jharkhand are taken up by this month-end.

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