New Delhi, March 30: The National Advisory Council (NAC) is expected to hold its first meeting this week after chairperson Sonia Gandhi resigned over the office-of-profit controversy.

The meeting is likely to be presided (and not chaired) by either minister of state for commerce Jairam Ramesh, who is also the council’s convener, or V. Krishnamurthy, one of its most senior members.

The idea of holding the “informal” meeting was to scotch the speculation that the NAC might be disbanded after Sonia’s resignation.

Several Congress members are of the view that once their party chief is re-elected to the Lok Sabha, she would also be back in the NAC and not allow it to “die a slow death”.

The meeting will “look into” the three most “important” agendas of the council ? health, women and children and education.

Sonia is believed to have been keen on pushing the right to education bill this year despite cries that the government was facing a cash crunch.

A note put up on the NAC website on March 3 proposed a road map for the Centre to “progressively” increase expenditure on education to at least 6 per cent of the GDP over the next plan period.

The council also called for a central law to ensure that the right of every deprived and vulnerable child is protected. Such a law, the NAC said, should put in place a plan to make the education system “outcome-oriented, effective and efficient”.

While the deliberations of the meeting would be conveyed to Sonia, sources admitted her absence would deprive the body of its “authority”.

Rural development minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, whose comment that the NAC should be done away with was flashed across TV channels, today said the remark was twisted out of context. What he had meant was that without Sonia, there was no point in continuing with the council, the minister said.

Singh, whose ministry is credited with piloting the employment guarantee bill, said he had worked in perfect tandem with the NAC, without whose interventions, the legislation act would have been considerably diluted.

In keeping with the UPA’s commitment in the common minimum programme, Sonia reportedly wanted to fine-tune the mid-day meal scheme.

Congress sources said though Sonia could “theoretically” make a pitch for social sector initiatives outside the NAC framework, the council was the “most effective” mechanism for getting the right inputs from the “right” kind of people.”

The “save-NAC” chorus has grown so strong over the last two days that it has prompted defence minister Pranab Mukherjee to argue that the chairperson’s post is not an office of profit.