File photo of Congress President Sonia Gandhi with Rahul Gandhi
On Tuesday next, Congress President Sonia Gandhi has convened a meeting of chief ministers to formulate its political strategy against the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government for its attitude towards Congress ruled and other non-BJP states.
This is the first Congress Chief Minister's conference that's been called after the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) lost power in 2014. Senior leaders and general secretaries are likely to be present at the meeting also.
Agenda for the meeting is still being prepared, but discussions will revolve around issues that will be built as political campaign against the Central government.
Though Congress' opposition to and the campaign around the Land Acquisition Bill has been the most visible effort, the party is trying out its outreach effort to different sections of the society.
In one such effort, on Thursday, Rahul Gandhi met with a group of civil society activists including Green Peace activist Priya Pillai, who wasn't allowed by the NDA government to visit United Kingdom earlier this year.
Pillai was supposed to address a group of British lawmakers on environment violations at the Mahan coal block in Madhya Pradesh, a BJP ruled state. NDA government had claimed that Ms Pillai's statements would harm India's image abroad.
Congress party seems to be desperately trying to reconnect with groups who had deserted them in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
So far Rahul Gandhi has focussed on farmers, as he travelled across Telangana, Maharashtra and Punjab to families of farmers who had committed suicide because of crop losses.
The Congress vice president took up cudgels for ex-servicemen when he attacked the government for not implementing the One Rank One Pension (OROP), a key election promise of the BJP. He also met groups of urban home buyers and assured them that Congress would push for a stronger law against errant builders. Rahul also visited the birthplace of Dr B R Ambedkar in an effort to reach out to Dalits in Madhya Pradesh.
As the party gets ready for new leadership amidst talk of Rahul Gandhi "soon taking over" from his mother, Sonia Gandhi, Congress is also settling into its new role of being the main opposition party.