Congress president Sonia Gandhi will release a 'Shimla Declaration' at the end of the party's three-day conclave that starts in the capital of Himachal Pradesh on Monday.

Nearly 250 Congressmen will attend the conclave, titled Vichar Manthan Shibir.

Congress veterans have burned the midnight oil drafting five papers to be placed for discussion at the brainstorming session.

After the inaugural address by Gandhi, the participants will be divided into five groups, which will discuss the draft papers.

A chairman will head each group, which will be asked to formulate cohesive policies on various issues.

On top of the agenda will be the question of how to win elections, a CWC member told rediff.com on Saturday.

The first group, chaired by former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Arjun Singh, will discuss the political challenges before the party and what its approach should be with reference to Hindutva and Ayodhya.

The team will debate how the Bharatiya Janata Party is successful in leading the National Democratic Alliance and how its ties with regional outfits, which are getting better by the day, will be a threat to the Congress.

In this respect, it will also discuss ways to improve the Congress' ties with its current and potential partners in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Senior leader K C Kondaiah will head a team that will discuss the Congress' policies on governance.

A team led by Jammu and Kashmir PCC chief Ghulam Nabi Azad will discuss the party's approach in the coming assembly elections. This group will also look into the contradictions in the policies of Congress chief ministers in Rajasthan (Ashok Gehlot) and Madhya Pradesh (Digvijay Singh) in tacking the Hindutva and reservation issues.

Former Union agricultural minister Balram Jakhar will present an approach paper regarding the Congress' policy on rural transformation. This is in view of India's entry into the World Trade Organisation and its effects on the country's rural landscape.

Former Karnataka chief minister Veerappa Moily will chair the group on social empowerment. The Congress wants to debate the impact of 'reservation within reservation' and how to favour the upper-class poor and minorities.

A Congress leader said, "During the Pachmarhi conclave in 1998, we believed that by fanning communal emotions the Bharatiya Janata Party was seeking power. Now, along with the emotional issue, they have money power. In Shimla we will be forced to become practical and discuss our weaknesses in political management of regional parties at the state level, which is the BJP's forte."

A section of the party wants the Congress to accept the reality that coalition politics is here to stay and adapt accordingly.

Of the five draft documents, the ones on 'Political Challenges Before the Congress Party' and 'Congress Party and Indian Polity It Confronts' will put forth the debate on this question.

Congress sources said that the draft papers also moot the question that if an alliance is a compulsion, should it be pre-election or post.

The conclave will allow the Congressmen to speak their mind, especially in the light of a recent remark by Arjun Singh that groupism is rampant in the party.

Congress veterans admit it was not correct to oppose coalition politics at the Pachmarhi session. The idea was that in case the NDA government fell, the electorate would turn to the Congress for stability. However, with the government now on the verge of completing its full term, all such claims have vaporised.

The Congress has also realised that it can, at best, emerge as the single largest party after the general election. It would, therefore, need outside support to form a government.

The party had declined to stake claim after the last general election on the plea that it would do so only after getting a clear majority. This, many observers feel, was a face-saving ploy because the Congress had failed to muster the support of the Samajwadi Party, which had bagged 27 seats.