New Delhi, Oct 26 : The Congress will start membership drive from November 1, ahead of internal polls in the party. This was decided in a special meeting of General Secretaries, In-Charges and PCC Presidents chaired by Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Tuesday. Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi was also present and participated in the deliberations. Addressing a press conference after the meeting, party General Secretary Randeep Surjewala said, "It was resolved to undertake a massive membership drive commencing November 1, 2021, running through till March 31, 2022. "It was unanimously agreed that the Indian National Congress would reach out to every nook and corner, every ward and village across the country and offer Indians in the remotest parts, a platform for their aspirations." The Congress asked the people to join Congress to throw the BJP government which has caused sufferings to the people. The Congress said that special emphasis was laid on enrolling first time voters as members of the Congress. "The Congress leaders and workers will especially visit the localities and homes of our brothers and sisters belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes; hold interactions with these sections by laying special focus on the steps initiated by the Congress Party for their welfare and inclusion, as also identify the way forward for addressing the main points," he said. The party has also decided to enrol women members in mission mode from all sections of society. "The core idea is not just a nationwide outreach to specific sections of youth, women and the marginalised but also to bring out the fact that the Congress party is the only vehicle to fight the designed attack on the lives and livelihoods of these sections by the policies of the Modi Government," Surjewala added. Congress will counter diabolical and systematic attack unleashed by the BJP/RSS on the Congress ideology and on the core fundamentals of justice, equality and affirmative action enshrined in the Constitution, he said. "The meeting expressed concern over the systematic subjugation of democracy by unconstitutional means and virtually holding every institution captive to the whims and caprices of the ruling elite." Congress has asked its every party functionary --from ordinary workers to the senior most leaders to take on this fight based on the core of the Congress ideology and the founding principles of India. Party will initiate a comprehensive training programme at all levels of the party. "AICC office bearers and the PCC presidents agreed to undertake issue and policy-based training programmes to counter the vicious propaganda, lies and malicious campaigns unleashed by the ruling regime, both by word of mouth and through social media", Surjewala said. The Congress outlined agitational programs from November 14 to 29, and said party's resolve to fight the sinister attack on the agriculture sector and millions of farmers, the grave unrest on account of unprecedented unemployment, the debilitating attack on people's budget by unpardonable increase in prices of petrol, diesel, cooking gas, cooking oil, building material and every household item. "The sorry state of our economy bordering on collapse and an impending economic recession is made all the more worrying as the Modi Government remains clueless and directionless on correcting the economic downturn. The net result of their policies is that a handful of crony capitalists continue to grow their wealth by several crores everyday while small businesses, MSMEs, marginal shopkeepers and entrepreneurs become victims of their greed losing their hope, savings and livelihoods," Surjewala said. /IANS