AICC’s chintan shivir starts at Jaipur
Jaipur:. Conflicting views on alliances, including the demand for going it alone in some states, and a review of the decision of diesel price decontrol were among a host of issues raised at the Congress Chintan Shivir, the two-day conclave that will be followed by a day-long session of AICC on Sunday.
The discussion on the issue of women empowerment also saw a strong demand for passage of the long-pending women reservation bill which seeks to provide 33 percent reservation in Parliament and assemblies.
While all women members, including Union Minister Jayanthi Natarajan, favoured its early passage, AICC secretary Praveen Davar, while making a strong pitch for it, said the clearance of the bill should not be the responsibility of only women members and that it was time male members in the party also treat it on a priority basis.
Speaking in the sub-group on Emerging Political Challenges, a large number of speakers advocated caution on the issue of alliance saying the regional parties turn out to be ultimate beneficiaries damaging Congress in the long run.
Some favoured the party to go alone in next general elections saying there is no need to rush into alliances as regional parties are finishing Congress.
Some of the members said Congress was not attacking YSR Congress leader in Andhra Pradesh Jaganmohan Reddy, which is working to his advantage.
During the discussions, some members accused social media and television channels of having an anti-Congress bias aruging that while they highlighted the Delhi gang-rape case, rape cases in BJP-ruled Chhattishgarh went under-reported.
