New Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has set up a 47-member Steering Committee that includes former prime minister Manmohan Singh and the party's ex-presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. The interim panel headed by him would take the place of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the apex decision-making body, till a new CWC is formed after Kharge's election is ratified at the party plenary.
Shashi Tharoor, who contested against Kharge, is not among the panel members of the Steering Committee. He was earlier heading the Professional Congress wing of the party but resigned ahead of the party's presidential election.
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All members and permanent invitees of the last CWC have been retained in the committee except Vivek Bansal. Bansal, a former MLA who was a permanent invitee in the previous CWC, is now the in-charge for Haryana affairs of the party.
None of the special invitees to the previous CWC under Sonia Gandhi have found a place in the new Steering Committee announced by Kharge hours after he took over as the new party Congress president.
The CWC special invitees not included in the new panel are Ajay Kumar Lallu, Chinta Mohan, Deepender Singh Hooda, Sachin Rao, besides Seva Dal chief organiser Lalji Desai, IYC chief Srinivas B V, NSUI chief Neeraj Kundan, Mahila Congress chief Netta D'Souza and president of Intuc G Sanjeeva Reddy.
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Anand Sharma, a CWC member and a prominent leader of the G23 dissident group that was pushing for organisational overhaul, has been retained in the Steering Committee. Earlier in the day, soon after Kharge took over as the new chief, all CWC members and office bearers of the party tendered their resignations to the new party chief to enable him to choose his own team. There is a tradition of all office bearers of the Congress resigning soon after the election of the new president.
"All the CWC members, AICC general secretaries and in-charges have tendered their resignation to Congress president," said AICC general secretary Organisation KC Venugopal.
According to a communication from the AICC general secretary (Organisation), the steering committee members include senior party leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, A K Antony, Ambika Soni, Anand Sharma, K C Venugopal, Randeep Surjewala and Digvijaya Singh.
"As per Article XV (b) of the Constitution of the Indian National Congress, the Congress president has constituted the Steering Committee which would function in place of the Congress Working Committee," Venugopal said in the order.
The CWC is the highest decision-making body of the Congress and the Steering Committee will now take all decisions till the ratification of Kharge's election at the party's plenary session attended by all PCC delegates.
According to the party Constitution, 11 members of the CWC will be nominated and 12 will be elected. Besides, the leader of the party in Parliament and the Congress president will also be the members of the working committee. The session is likely to be held in March next year.
Among those who resigned was Anand Sharma who assured of all cooperation to the new chief and thanked Sonia Gandhi for her leadership.
Congratulating the new Congress chief, Sharma said, "It has been a privilege for me to have served as a member of the CWC with the outgoing president Sonia Gandhi and also with former president Rahul Gandhi."
"As you assume the office of the Congress president, I am submitting my resignation from the CWC. I consider, that it is important for the new president to have the freedom to reconstitute the CWC as required under the provisions of the Constitution of the Indian National Congress," he said, assuring his support in all endeavours for strengthening the party.
