Congress plenary session begins today; Gandhis may skip key meet: 10 points

A day after Pawan Khera was arrested on his way to Raipur and granted bail in connection with an FIR over alleged remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress 85th plenary session will begin on Friday in the Chhattisgarh capital with a meeting of the party’s steering committee during which the crucial decision on holding CWC polls would be taken.

Here are top points on Congress 85th plenary session:

1. The Congress is expected to take key decisions during the three-day session that would lay out a clear roadmap for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

2. It is expected to finalise the strategy on forging poll tie-ups with like-minded parties to take on the BJP.

3. The Congress brass will be in attendance at the plenary session that will primarily endorse the presidentship of Mallikarjun Kharge and pave the way for the new working committee led by him. However, Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi are likely to skip the meeting on Friday.

4. The session, which comes in the backdrop of the Bharat Jodo Yatra that has been touted as a success by the party, will be attended by around 15,000 delegates.

5. 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 and decide on whether there will be elections to the top decision-making body or not.

6. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the steering committee will decide whether polls will be held for the CWC seats.

7. There will be a meeting of the steering committee at 10am Friday after which there will be a meeting of the subjects committee at 4pm the same day in which six resolutions will be considered.

8. On February 26, there will be a speech by the Congress president at 2pm and a public meeting will be held at 4pm.

9. The plenary session comes a day after Congress leader Pawan Khera was arrested by Assam Police on Thursday, a day of high drama that began with him being deplaned from a flight to Raipur and his party leaders protesting on the tarmac.

10. Khera, who was in the headlines this week for apparently fumbling on the prime minister’s father’s name during a press conference, was released on interim bail till February 28 by a Delhi court later in the evening on the directions of the Supreme Court.