Congress Chief Ministers conclave in Nainital

New Delhi, Aug 12: A conclave of the congress Chief Ministers will be held in Nainital in Uttaranchal to review the performance of the party-ruled states, besides a focussed discussion on the crisis in the farming sector.

Though the date of the conclave is not decided, AICC sources said it would be towards the end of this month.

There are clear indications that it will be held after August 24 when the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament is over.

A major item on the agenda of the conclave would be agriculture and price rise.

The meeting, to be attended by the chief ministers of 14 Congress-ruled states, would be chaired by Party President Sonia Gandhi. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would address the chief ministers on the second day.

All the AICC General Secretaries in charge of states will also attend the conclave, which will review the performance of the party-ruled states since the last conclave held in Chandigarh during October 7-8 last year.

The conclave would begin with the opening remarks of Ms Gandhi which will set the trend for the two-day exercise.

All the Chief Ministers will make separate presentations on the achievements of their governments.

Ms Gandhi and Dr Singh will motivate the Chief Ministers to effectively implement the UPA government's programmes like Bharat Nirman, Urban Renewal Mission, National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) Programme and the Right to Information Act (RTI).

The Nainital conclave will be the second such gathering of the party Chief Ministers after the UPA government came to power at the Centre in May 2004.

It was Ms Gandhi who started the practice of bringing together the party Chief Ministers at a conclave in 2002 when the Congress was in the Opposition.

Accordingly, the first conclave was held in Guwahati during April 13-14, 2002. The second conclave was also held the same year at Mt Abu during November 8-9. It became an annual feature from then onwards.

The conclave was originally scheduled to be held in Delhi.

However, the venue was shifted to Nainital in the context of a meeting of the chief ministers having been held already in the capital last month to discuss the issue of price rise.

UNI