Facing heat over corruption issue, Cong defers conclave

New Delhi, Jun 12: Apparently facing the heat on issues like corruption, Congress has deferred plans to hold a brainstorming session this month.

With Congress is busy with the campaign to counter the Opposition parties in the wake of the Ramdev and Anna Hazare agitations, the conclave is now expected to take place sometime before the winter session of Parliament, which begins in November, party sources said.

As a series of state elections including in key Hindi state Uttar Pradesh are lined up next year, the Congress conclave is expected to generate new ideas that would get the organisation going while facing the challenges ahead.

The ''Chintan Shivir'', which is likely to be held in party ruled Rajasthan, would provide an opportunity for mid-term appraisal of the UPA-II which completed two years in power last month.

The hill resort of Mount Abu, where Congress had held a meeting of party chief ministers about a decade back, is being talked about as the possible venue.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi had during the AICC Plenary here in December last year spoken about plans to hold such a conclave. She had said it would give the party an opportunity to refresh its perspectives on crucial national issues and also review the functioning of the organisation.

"It will be an occasion to hear the voices of our colleagues, particularly the younger ones, to bring new energy to our thinking," she had said at the plenary.

Though the party wanted to hold the ''Shivir'' first in January and then later during the Budget session recess in March, it postponed the programme. With the election schedule for five states being announced, the Budget session was truncated and the party got into election mode.

Since then there were indications that the conclave would be held before the Monsoon session, likely to be held from mid-July. This would be the first conclave since UPA came to power in 2004.

PTI