Congress' media conclave from Monday

The two-day media conclave of Congress will begin in New Delhi on Monday seeking to tone up its communication strategy in states and propagate UPA's achievements among the masses ahead of the next General elections.

While party vice-president Rahul Gandhi will inaugurate the conclave, Union ministers P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, Jairam Ramesh, Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari will address the key sessions during the two-day programme.

The party will also unveil its social platform 'Khidki' for about 200 spokespersons from across the country encouraging them to use it as a window of opportunity besides giving them lessons in the dos and don'ts of electronic media, a statement from the AICC said.

The programme will conclude with round-table discussions in ten groups organised for spokespersons from states and NSUI and Youth Congress representatives on a host of current topics.

All states have been asked to send five spokespersons, under 55 years of age, for the workshop and the participants have been given a form in which they have to inform among other things whether any criminal case is pending against them.

Tewari, who is Information and Broadcasting Minister, will train the participants on how to prepare for an effective debate or press briefing.

Tharoor, who was earlier Under Secretary General of UN for communication and public information, will address them through video conferencing about communication challenges in the present day media scenario.

Chidamabarm's session will focus on economy while Sharma will speak on manufacturing policy on FDI.

Congress will also unveil a new platform for disseminating party's views uniformaly across the country and party spokesman Sandeep Dikshit will apprise the participants about research methodology and linkages with AICC.