Cong top brass to discuss poll preparedness at CWC meet on Dec 21

New Delhi: Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge will hold a meeting with top party leaders on Thursday to discuss party's strategy for upcoming Lok Sabha polls and chalk out plans on seat sharing with like-minded parties of the I.N.D.I.A bloc.

Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former party chief Rahul Gandhi would attend the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting.

This is the first meeting of the top Congress leadership after the party's debacle in recently held Assembly elections in five states.

The Congress has maintained that its morale is not down, even though the assembly poll results have been very disappointing and not as per expectations.

The party has already held a first round of analysis of the poll results and the CWC is likely to hold further discussions on the reasons of the defeat.

The party leadership is likely to evolve a new agenda to take on the BJP as its key thrust on caste census has failed to click with voters in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

The meeting will take place at the All India Congress Committee headquarters here.

The meeting is being held at a time when the challenge before the Congress is to come out with an alternative positive agenda to counter the BJP in the next general elections.

Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday told MPs at the Parliamentary Party meeting that the assembly election results being very disappointing is an understatement as she urged them to channel their disappointment into positivity for next year's general elections.

This was the first time that Sonia Gandhi spoke on the recent assembly poll results.

"To say that the assembly election results in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have been very disappointing for our party is an understatement. The Congress President has already had a first round of reviews to understand the reasons for our poor performance and draw the needed lessons for our organization," she told the MPs.

She also said that the Lok Sabha elections will be held in the next few months and "we have our task cut out both as a party in our own right and also as a member of the I.N.D.I.A bloc."

The Congress is also holding a mega rally in Nagpur on the party's foundation day on December 28.