According to the people cited above, during the three-day session, the party will lay out a roadmap for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and forging poll tie-ups with like-minded parties to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be discussed.
The 85th Congress plenary session kicked off8 on Friday in Chhattisgarh’s capital Raipur primarily endorsing the leadership of the party’s national president Mallikarjun Kharge. The session began with a steering committee meeting to finalise the agenda for the three-day meeting.
Around 15,000 Congress delegates are in Raipur for the ‘Haath se Haath Jodo’ Plenary Session to brainstorm for three days to attend the meeting which will will pave the way for the new working committee and set the tone for the Congress’ 2024 national poll campaign.
The 85th plenary sessions that began on February 24 will go on till February 26.
On the first day of the three-day session, the steering committee, which is playing the role of the Working Committee (the previous one was dissolved until a new CWC is formed), will meet at 10am on Friday and decide on whether there will be elections to the top decision-making body or not, people familiar with the matter said.
According to the people cited above, during the three-day session, the party will lay out a roadmap for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and forging poll tie-ups with like-minded parties to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be discussed.
While all eyes lie on the outcomes of this year’s plenary sessions which will show the way for the General elections scheduled next year, here is a throwback to what had emerged from the previous five plenary sessions of the Congress.
Apart from the party’s national president Mallikarjun Kharge, former presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will also attend the convention.
84th Congress plenary sessions (2018, Delhi)
Held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor stadium in New Delhi in March 2018, this was also then Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s first plenary session as the party head.
The Congress revealed its political roadmap for the then-upcoming 2019 general elections at the sessions. On the last day, Rahul Gandhi delivered a 50-minute long speech attacking the ruling NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government’s foreign policy referring to India’s relations with Pakistan, China, Maldives, and Sri Lanka.
83rd Congress plenary sessions (2010, Delhi)
Held at the Parliament House Annexe, Delhi, during the Congress’ 125th anniversary in December 2010, four resolutions on political, economic, and foreign affairs and 125 years of the Congress party were adopted during the plenary sessions chaired by then Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The plenary also called upon the government to investigate the role of right-wing Hindu outfit Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and all like-minded sister organizations in terror attacks among other issues like the 2G spectrum controversy, situations in Jammu & Kashmir, revelations by WikiLeaks cable on then Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi among others.
82nd Congress plenary sessions (2006, Hyderabad)
The 82nd plenary session of Congress held in January 2006 was also the first one for Rahul Gandhi as a party member and the demand for the inclusion of Rahul in the Congress Working Committee or his appointment as general secretary of the All Indian Congress Committee (AICC) was the highlight of the session held in Hyderabad. Other important issues like coalition and alliances were also among the top discussions after the party came into power after eight long years.
81st Congress plenary sessions (2001, Bangalore)
Held in the backdrop of the Tehelka revelations and the opposition outcry demanding the resignation of the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. Explosive contents of the tapes changed the focus, course, and outcome of the session held in Bangalore’s Palace grounds and transformed the plenary from one which would at most have issued a rather uncertain campaign message for the coming assembly elections in four States and a Union Territory, to one which issued a virtual call-to-arms for a war against then PM Atal Bihari led-BJP government in New Delhi.
80th Congress plenary sessions (1997, Kolkata)
Held in Kolkata a week before India’s 50th anniversary of Independence, the 80th sessions in 1997 are remarkable as a resolution was passed to make Sonia Gandhi the party president replacing Sitaram Kesri. This came at a time when the Communist Party of India (Marxist) had maintained their stronghold over West Bengal and on the other hand, Mamata Banerjee had announced the formation of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) at a rally attended by Congress workers.
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