Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday turned down a proposal to have 'Preraks' (motivators) for conducting party's outreach activities across country. re was consensus at a meeting of Congress' top brass chaired by Gandhi to continue with old system of having trainers. se trainers would furr be tasked with responsibility of propagating party's ideology and articulating its views on a range of issues. Sources said a proposal to have 'Preraks' was made at Congress meeting of general secretaries, in-charges, PCC chiefs and CLP leaders on Thursday by Sachin Rao, who is AICC in-charge of training.

Preraks move rejected

proposal invited instant objections from many Congress leaders starting with Mukul Wasnik, who said it sounded too similar to word 'Pracharak'. RSS, BJP's ideological mentor, has a system of 'Pracharaks'. Sonia Gandhi is learnt to have ackwledged Wasnik's objection and rejected term 'prerak' in favour of already used word "trainer -coordinator". Congress w plans to have coordinators across country who will propagate party's mess in area he is assigned to.

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Congress to adopt RSS-model?

Earlier in day, in important Congress meet in New Delhi. party was set to decide its strategy for upcoming state elections after 2019 Lok Sabha drubbing, as per sources. According to sources, party was mulling on appointing 'Preraks' or 'motivators' at district level across country to boost its ground level outreach. Experts have stated that this move by Congress is similar to that of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)'s functioning model. 'Preraks' will reportedly be given training for several days and will work on party nda at a ground-level.

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Top Congress meet in New Delhi

Top leaders in attendance include former PM Manmohan Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad, KC Venugopal, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Sachin Pilot and Jyotiraditya Scindia. All Congress general secretaries are scheduled to meet on Friday as well to address various issues.  Apart from strategy, meeting has also been called to discuss preparations for Gandhi Jayanti. Previously, party had anunced that party workers will carry out padayatra across country, wearing Gandhi topis and holding seminars to celebrate Mahatma's birth anniversary.

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Congress' turmoil

Meanwhile, Congress is currently going through internal turmoil. Senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia had reportedly given an ultimatum to party that he will resign if t made Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) head. He had also skipped Priyanka Gandhi's meeting which was scheduled on Friday. He is set to meet Sonia Gandhi to discuss same. Top leaders have expressly denied any rift between High Command and Scindia.

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Congress also suffered a major setback in Maharashtra on Tuesday when former Maharashtra minister Kripashankar Singh quit party. Kripashankar Singh's resignation was second blow to Congress in a single day after actor-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar resigned earlier on same day. Apart from m, Haryana's women's wing chief Sumitra Chouhan submitted her resignation and joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday. party has seen a continuous string of resignations since Rahul Gandhi's resignation on May 25, after losing Lok Sabha polls to BJP.

(With PTI Inputs)