<p class="title">Congress president Rahul Gandhi is all set to interact with a cross-section of the society to seek their inputs for the party's manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Congress managers are planning to hold at least four such interactions one each in southern, northern, eastern and western regions of the country.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Members of the AICC Manifesto Committee, chaired by former finance minister P Chidambaram, have already held more than 100 consultations with farmers, businessmen, students, ex-servicemen, women, intellectuals, teachers among other groups across almost every state.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“We are planning to have Congress president's interactions sometime in February,” an AICC functionary associated with the consultations exercise said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan has also given suggestions on how to revive the country's economy and the party may also consider them, a Congress leader said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, he made it clear that the suggestions were not made by Rajan exclusively to the Congress, but were posted on his website for the benefit of everyone.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The party intends to hold around 150 consultations at a total of 60 locations across the country before it comes out with its manifesto for general elections, the leader said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He said the party has already received over 10,000 responses from public online, giving suggestions on a host of issues, which the party may include in the document.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Except for Rahul's outreach programme, the exercise of consultations for the manifesto is expected to be completed by February 1.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The party manifesto will be released closer to the Lok Sabha elections and is expected to include a blueprint for an alternative to the BJP’s much-touted Gujarat model of development.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Chidambaram has held consultations in Mumbai, Bengaluru and was in Varanasi recently to meet intellectuals and people from different sections of society.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“The response in Varanasi was overwhelming. The discussions lasted for two hours and could have gone on for another two hours,” an AICC functionary said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In November, Chidambaram had discussed the economic situation with representatives of the CII and FICCI and sought their inputs for the manifesto.</p>
<p class="title">Congress president Rahul Gandhi is all set to interact with a cross-section of the society to seek their inputs for the party's manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Congress managers are planning to hold at least four such interactions one each in southern, northern, eastern and western regions of the country.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Members of the AICC Manifesto Committee, chaired by former finance minister P Chidambaram, have already held more than 100 consultations with farmers, businessmen, students, ex-servicemen, women, intellectuals, teachers among other groups across almost every state.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“We are planning to have Congress president's interactions sometime in February,” an AICC functionary associated with the consultations exercise said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan has also given suggestions on how to revive the country's economy and the party may also consider them, a Congress leader said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, he made it clear that the suggestions were not made by Rajan exclusively to the Congress, but were posted on his website for the benefit of everyone.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The party intends to hold around 150 consultations at a total of 60 locations across the country before it comes out with its manifesto for general elections, the leader said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He said the party has already received over 10,000 responses from public online, giving suggestions on a host of issues, which the party may include in the document.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Except for Rahul's outreach programme, the exercise of consultations for the manifesto is expected to be completed by February 1.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The party manifesto will be released closer to the Lok Sabha elections and is expected to include a blueprint for an alternative to the BJP’s much-touted Gujarat model of development.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Chidambaram has held consultations in Mumbai, Bengaluru and was in Varanasi recently to meet intellectuals and people from different sections of society.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“The response in Varanasi was overwhelming. The discussions lasted for two hours and could have gone on for another two hours,” an AICC functionary said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In November, Chidambaram had discussed the economic situation with representatives of the CII and FICCI and sought their inputs for the manifesto.</p>
