New Delhi, Aug 6 : Congress General Secretary and Lok Sabha MP, Rahul Gandhi will today teach his party spokespersons the finer points of energy security and the basics of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

In the run up to this year’s state polls and General Elections (in March 2009), the Congress is planning to propagate the benefits of the Nuke deal to the people by educating the party functionaries.

The 38-year-old Nehru-Gandhi scion will interact with the 150-odd functionaries of the party to clarify their doubts on the complex issue before they disperse to propagate the benefits of the deal to the people, ahead of this year’s crucial assembly polls in four states – Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir.

During the recent confidence motion debate in the Lok Sabha, Rahul had maintained that the N- deal was necessary to “remove poverty and boost overall development of the nation”. He had even said the deal was more important than the survival of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government.

Besides Rahul, a host of other leaders and experts, including National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan, Prime Minister’s special envoy on the deal Shyam Saran, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Digvijay Singh, will speak during the day-long orientation programme for the Congress spokespersons.

The panel also includes experts like Dr Kirit Parekh and G. P. Shrinivas. The speakers will cover the entire gamut of issues relating to the deal and its impact.

For Rahul, it will be another opportunity to interact with state party leaders on the Indo-US nuclear issue, which is close to his heart.

The workshop is taking place in the backdrop of party President Sonia Gandhi''s emphasis on the need to communicate achievements of the Government in the last four years. (ANI)