CWC meets on May 20 to review post-poll, quota

New Delhi, May 19: A meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest policy making body of the party that leads the ruling coalition at the centre, will be held here tomorrow evening, two days ahead of the the Manmohan Singh government completing two years in office.

The meeting will begin at 1900 hrs and is expected to last for two hours.

The main item on the agenda is a review of the outcome of the recently-held elections in the states of Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Union territory of Pondicherry.

A major point of discussion would be the party's debacle in Kerala where it had to hand over power to the Left parties. In this context, the impact of the last-minute decision of the Congress to broker truce with the new party floated by former Congress leader K Karunakaran - Democratic Indira Congress - and fight the election together is sure to be analysed.

The meeting would commence its business after congratulating Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi on her record-breaking margin victory in the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha by-elections, which was necessitated by her own resignation from the seat following the office-of-profit controversy.

The performance of the Manmohan Singh government would also come in for appraisal at the meeting, to be attended by all the senior leaders.

The vexed issue relating to reservation for OBC candidates in the central universities and elite instituions would receive utmost attention of the CWC members in the context of the raging agitation over the issue across the country.

This is the first meeting of the highest policy making body of the party heading the coalition at the cente since the OBC quota issue took the centrestage.

The meeting is expected to evolve the party's stand on the reservation issue so that the four-member informal Group of Ministers appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could chalk out a comprehensive package in the matter which would be acceptable to all the sides.

With Ms Gandhi herself dropping hints to the effect that she would task her son Rahul Gandhi with greater organisational responsibilities, a strong demand for catapulting the young Amethi MP to the centre stage of Congress politics is expected.

When Ms Gandhi reconstituted the CWC and the AICC Secretariat in December last, she had left five seats vacant in the CWC, sparking off speculation that Rahul would be given one of the posts.

She disappointed the party leaders when she did not respond to their call made at the AICC plenary session in January this year for making him a CWC member.

However, Ms Gandhi sounded positive to the suggestion to make him a General Secretary of the AICC, which will give him a seat in the CWC automatically, immediately after her victory in Rae Bareli. It is projected by Ms Gandhi and also by the party leaders that her record breaking margin in Rae bareli was mainly due to Rahul Gandhi's house-to-house campaigning.

The CWC meeting would be followed by a meeting of the UPA Coordination Committee at the Prime Minister's official 7 Race Course residence on May 22 to coincide with the second anniversary of the government.

UNI