The marathon meeting that continued till late in the night witnessed strong pleas to project that the nuclear tests were possible due to the relentless work done by successive Congress governments.

Party leaders suggested that the BJP could also seek to capitalise on the conduct of the tests later this year during the Assembly elections in some states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

The meeting mainly deliberated on the report of the All India Congress Committee task force led by former speaker P A Sangma on revitalising the party.

A number of party leaders were critical of the recommendation of the task force for setting up regional and divisional Congress committees in bigger states. They said this would lead to the creation of aparallel organisation and would adversely affect the party. The extended CWC, which has been in session since yesterday, had on its agenda discussions on bills including women's reservation, Prasar Bharti, the issue of creating smaller states and delimiting constituencies.

Some members also spoke in favour of creating smaller states like Vidarbha, while some others opposed the Bharatiya Janata Party's concept of cultural nationalism which they felt was aimed at diluting secularism.

The central leadership was also told by participants that the party suffered in the elections as the economic reforms initiated by the Congress government did not have a "pro-poor" approach.