Date:15/05/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/05/15/stories/2003051503531100.htm

National

Cong. CMs' conclave in Srinagar

By Javed M. Ansari

NEW DELHI MAY 14 . The next Congress Chief Ministers' conclave will be held in Srinagar on May 30 and 31. This will be the fifth such exercise and will be presided over by the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi.

The first two conclaves were held in New Delhi. The first to be held out of the capital was in Guwahati during April 2002, while Mount Abu played host to the fourth in November last year.

Fifteen of the 29 Chief Ministers in the country are from the Congress. The party is part of the coalitions in Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir. This is the first time that the Congress wields so much power in the States and so little at the Centre. Ms. Gandhi has invited the Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister, Mangat Ram Sharma, to the Srinagar meet.

Though the Chief Ministers of Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala had offered to host the conclave, Ms. Gandhi plumped for Srinagar. After announcing the choice of the venue, she called up the State Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, on Monday night, to inform him of her decision.

The choice of Srinagar is a signal to the people of the strife-torn State and the rest of the country of the importance that the State enjoys in the Congress' scheme of things. It is also meant to lend support to the process of normalisation in the Valley. "The decision is a recognition of the federal character of the party," said a CWC member.

The Congress put in a credible performance during the last Assembly elections in the State and by choosing to bring its top leadership to Srinagar, it is signalling the sensitivity it attaches to it. "We are signalling our intention of supporting those who have made the brave choice of joining the mainstream," an AICC general-secretary said.

Ms. Gandhi significantly was the only national leader to visit the State and campaign vigorously during the Assembly elections, while both the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, were conspicuous by their absence.

The conclave will probably be the final brainstorming session before the make or break Assembly elections to the five States later this year. Significantly the Congress, which is also in power in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Delhi, will showcase its State Governments as examples of good governance, with a view to offset the anti-incumbency factor.

The coming elections will feature significantly in deliberations in one form or the other and the agenda will focus on good governance and social issues.

It will also provide an important forum for the Chief Ministers and senior AICC functionaries to discuss and formulate a joint strategy on national and State-level issues.

The Congress leadership is aware of the attempts made by the Sangh Parivar to polarise the polity on communal lines ahead of the elections. The conclave is likely to hammer out a clear-cut position to be adopted by all Congress Governments.