2023-08-20 14:35:00
20 August 2023, 08:05 PM IST Mallikarjun Kharge with Sonia Gandhi |Photo:ANI
New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has reconstituted the party’s top working committee to include Shashi Tharoor, who ran once morest him for the post of president, and the G23 leaders who were known as ‘revisionists’ who were constantly criticizing the leadership. Ten months following assuming office, Kharge has dissolved the working committee, which plays an important role in the diplomatic formation of the Congress.
With only a year left for the Lok Sabha elections, Kharge’s ‘demolition’ is considered to be a smart and delicate balancing game. Through this, Kharge has taken steps to retain the old leaders and bring in new faces, as well as reduce sectarianism in the party.
The steering committee meeting held in February this year authorized Kharge to nominate the members of the working committee.
It is noteworthy that the permanent members of the new CWC include Mukul Wasnik, Anand Sharma and Shashi Tharoor, who were among the group of 23 dissident leaders who wrote to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and raised questions once morest the party leadership.
Kharge has included Tharoor in the working committee, rejecting Ramesh Chennithala, who was most expected from Kerala. Tharoor’s new status will be reflected in Kerala too. The new designation will also strengthen the group that has already formed in the Congress with Tharoor in mind. Ramesh Chennithala has expressed his displeasure that he was made only a regular guest. The working committee will be discussed in state politics in the coming days.
Manish Tiwari and Veerappa Moily, who were members of the G23 group, were also made regular guests.
Another attraction is that the new working committee includes Sachin Pilot, who in 2020 rebelled once morest his own government in Rajasthan and was subsequently removed from the post of Deputy Chief Minister.
Former MP from Rajasthan Raghuveer Singh Meena, Jai Prakash Aggarwal, Dinesh Gundu Rao, H. K. Patil, K. H. Muniappa, P. L. Punia, Pramod Tiwari and Raghu Sharma are the principals who have been excluded from the working committee. Among them, Gundu Rao, Muniyappa and Patil are ministers in Karnataka.
Mallikarjun Kharge assumed the post of Congress president on October 10 last. A new working committee will replace the steering committee that was formed. The new working committee will come into existence amid preparations for the 2024 general elections and crucial assembly elections in the states to be held ahead of it.
The Congress Working Committee was last reconstituted on September 11, 2020 under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi. The first working committee chaired by Mallikarjun Kharge has also been announced today. The new committee has been formed following many discussions.
The new 84-member committee will include 39 permanent members and 15 women who are below 50 years of age and from weaker sections.
However, it is also notable that Kharge’s safe game during elections leaves little space for the youth. The new committee is full of veterans. Sachin Pilot, Gaurav Gogoi and Kamleswar Patel are the only ones under the age of 50 in the 39-member permanent committee.
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