File Photo: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi at a rally in Ranchi. (Press Trust of India)
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi has called a meeting of All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretaries on December 24 in the backdrop of the party suffering reverses in assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand.
Sources said that the meeting will be attended by all General Secretaries and especially by those in charge of the two states besides Maharashtra and Haryana, which also saw Congress' defeat after 15 and 10 years in power.
Mr Gandhi had been interacting with young and old party leaders from various states in groups for the past few months to take their feedback on how to strengthen the party from the grass root and make a turn around in Congress' fortunes.
In tomorrow's meeting, he is likely to hold a threadbare discussion on the way ahead for Congress in states.
There is a view in the party that since the next general elections will be five years away, it is time for the party to focus on states.
Congress has had a series of electoral setbacks. The Lok Sabha polls saw the party's tally reaching to 44 from 206 in 2009. Barring the assembly results in some states a few months ago, there has been no silver lining for the party in the past six months.
Meanwhile, it has extended the deadline for its ongoing membership drive for two months more from December 31 to February 28 next year.
Congress will be holding organizational elections next year, which will culminate into the election of the new party President and a revamp of the entire AICC machinery.
"On the request of some Pradesh Congress committees, the election authority of the party has extended the date for the completion of the membership drive by two months. The organisational elections will be rescheduled accordingly," Congress General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi said in a press release.