Addressing top party leaders ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled for early next year, she asked them to shun personal ambition to fight for a common cause.

 

In her opening statement, Sonia Gandhi said: "I would like to re-emphasise the paramount need for discipline and unity. What should matter to each and every one of us is the strengthening of the organisation. This must override personal ambitions. In this lies both collective and individual success."

 

The message was apparently aimed at the "sulking" leaders who have been demanding a complete overhaul of the party.

 

The Congress President asked the top leaders to take the membership drive and party ideology to the grassroots level.

 

"Young men and women across the nation seek a movement to give voice to their aspirations. It is our duty to provide them with a platform, as we have done for generations past," she said.

 

For this, she asked the top leaders to ensure the proper printing and distribution of forms for every ward and village, identify and assign Congress leaders and office-bearers, the task of going house to house, to enrol members in a transparent fashion.

 

Emphasising on the need for training of workers to fight the BJP, Gandhi said training programmes for the workers are an absolute necessity.

 

"The fight to defend our democracy, our Constitution and the Congress Party's ideology begins with being fully prepared to identify and counter false propaganda," she said.

 

Exhorting the leaders to fight the diabolical campaign of BJP/RSS ideologically, she said: "We must do so with conviction and expose their lies before the people if we are to win this battle."

 

She said that the Congress' agenda does not percolate down to the grassroots at the block and district level which needs to be worked on. "There are policy issues on which I find a lack of clarity and cohesion even amongst our state-level leaders."

 

Sonia Gandhi asked the leaders to train the workers to take on the unceasing onslaught of "malicious disinformation campaigns" at the behest of the BJP/RSS, while upholding and projecting the core Congress ideology.

 

She also said that five states are going to Assembly polls in the coming months. Congress party workers and leaders in these states are gearing up to take on these battles.

 

"Our campaign must be founded upon concrete policies and programmes emanating from widespread discussions with all sections of society."

 

The Congresss chief asked the cadres to redouble the "fight for the victims of this government's worst excesses: our farmers and farm labourers, our youth fighting for jobs and opportunities, small and medium scale businesses, our brothers, our sisters with particular focus on the deprived".