In the first major poll exercise after the recent Assembly elections, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi is holding a strategy session with senior leaders and Chief Ministers of 12 Congress-ruled states in New Delhi today to prepare the party for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The day-long exercise that began this morning is being attended by Congress Chief Ministers along with senior party leaders A K Antony, Sushilkumar Shinde, P. Chidambaram, Ahmed Patel, Jairam Ramesh, Digvijay Singh, Janardan Dwivedi, Kapil Sibal and K V Thomas.

Having lost the Assembly polls in Delhi and Rajasthan, the Congress is keen to work out an effective strategy to retain the states where it is in power and to fair well in the 2014 general elections.

Our correspondent reports, the issue of price rise and steps to arrest it will be taken up in detail at the conclave which will also discuss the food security issue.