A reaffirmation of the tenets of coalition dharma and an endorsement of the Indo-US nuclear agreement are likely to be two critical components of an AICC session being convened by the Congress here next month, but the showstealer at the conclave, undoubtedly, will be Rahul Gandhi, who was made party general secretary recently.
The Nehru-Gandhi scion is expected to be in the spotlight at the one-day session to be held at the Talkatora stadium on November 17. It would serve as a platform to ratify his formal launch in the organisation.
?The occasion will provide yet another opportunity to Congressmen for indulging in one upmanship and professing their loyalty to the family,? a senior party leader asserted.
The event will be preceded by a meeting of the working committee a day earlier, essentially to approve the resolutions to be passed by the AICC.
The session, though, is likely to discuss at length the future course that the party should take in the backdrop of the current coalitional era.
A senior leader pointed out that the party approach was already outlined by Gandhi at the HT summit recently when she said ?the dharma of coalitions is not confrontation, but to work together, try and understand and accommodate each other?s view?.
Gandhi?s remarks evoked a positive response from alliance partners with DMK chief M Karunanidhi even writing to her that ?these vibrant words speak volumes of your profound understanding of politics?.
Party leaders felt that a reaffirmation of coalition dharma could be important, given the kind of fractured mandate that would be inevitable in the next Lok Sabha elections.
The session is also expected to give its formal backing to the nuclear deal and endorse the leadership of Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister.
