New Delhi, Nov. 4: George Fernandes has roped in the Samajwadi Party?s Amar Singh and a few leaders of the National Democratic Alliance for the two-day convention of an apolitical organisation propped up by him and his confidants to launch a national campaign for course correction in reforms.

Among important BJP allies agreeing to attend the session are Telugu Desam Party leader Chandrababu Naidu and Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. Naidu will address the opening session tomorrow, while Mamata will speak at the concluding programme on Saturday.

Fernandes, who unsuccessfully tried to revive the socialist bloc after the fall of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, has kept the BJP and the Congress away from the convention of Lok Awaz launched in the backdrop of a continuing downslide in the fortunes of the BJP.

However, Lok Awaz took care to invite ? other than Amar Singh, who has agreed to attend ? Sitaram Yechury and Prakash Karat of the CPM, the CPI?s D. Raja and Atul Anjan, Om Prakash Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal, Dayanidhi Maran of the DMK and the Samajwadi?s Mulayam Singh Yadav, for the convention beginning tomorrow.

Fernandes is the patron of the organisation formed in September in the aftermath of the United Progressive Alliance government assuming power at the Centre. Former Samata Party spokesperson Shambhu Shrivastwa is the president.

The convention on Do Reforms Need Course Correction will discuss the course of economic reforms in India. The seminar will also discuss regional disparities, employment generation and the strategy of the national campaign for course correction in reforms.

Former Planning Commission member S.P. Gupta, who headed a special group on creating employment opportunities and claimed that he could create one crore jobs, will also speak at the convention.

Shrivastwa denied any political undertones in the formation of Lok Awaz and said the idea was to have an ?informed public debate on issues such as poverty, unemployment, disparity and unshackling of the economy?.