CWC expected to finalise strategy for assembly polls

New Delhi, Mar 10 (UNI) Ahead of the April/May elections to five assemblies, Congress President Sonia Gandhi has convened a meeting of the 20-member Working Committee (CWC), the party's highest policy making body, here tomorrow.

The Congress has high stakes in the assembly polls as it is in power in Asom, Kerala and Pondicherry.

According to party sources, the CWC is expected to finalise the party's poll strategy to retain power in the three places and put up a decent show in Tamil Nadu, where it will contest only 48 of the 234 assembly seats under a seat-sharing arrangement with the DMK and its allies, and West Bengal.

Ms Gandhi had, in her address at the Hyderabad AICC plenary, issued a warning to the Left parties, whose support is vital for the survival of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre, to gear up for a bitter fight in the assembly elections in Kerala and West Bengal.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Cabinet colleagues Arjun Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, Shivraj Patil and Ambika Soni are among the members of the CWC.

The CWC is also expected to discuss the recent political developments and the security situation, particularly in the light of the terrorist attacks in Varanasi, and international issues, including the visit of US President George W Bush during which the nuclear separation plan was finalised.

Dr Singh is likely to apprise party leaders of major government decisions and intiatives.

Meanwhile, Ms Gandhi today constituted screening committees for the poll-bound states as part of the exercise to finalise the party's candidates to contest the elections.

The CWC also has 14 permanent invitees and 13 special invitees.

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