New Delhi, May 26: Congress today said it has "deliberately" chosen Srinagar as the venue of the fifth conclave of the party chief ministers beginning May 30 to express solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir who braved the "bullet and threat" of terrorists to participate in the recent assembly elections in the state. Stating this, party spokesman S Jaipal Reddy told reporters that congress wants to give the message that Kashmir is part of Indian mainstream.

The two-day "interactive" conclave of the 15 chief ministers of Congress-ruled states would deliberate upon specific issues "mutually" beneficial to other states, he said. He said "governance and economic development" were the two issues which would dominate the deliberations of the conclave.

There would be no assessment or evaluation of the performance of the chief ministers of the party-ruled states as the chief ministers themselves would be speaking about the progress made by the respective states in the light of their manifestos and programmes, he said.

Besides the chief ministers, the conclave was likely to be attended by members of the working committee, AICC general secretaries, PCC presidents and CLP leaders from the states where party was in opposition. Bureau Report