Kharge finally forms new Congress Working Committee; Tharoor, Pilot in

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday (August 20) has finally reconstituted a new Congress Working Committee (CWC), which is the party's top decision making body. This development comes just months ahead of Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

Shashi Tharoor, Anand Sharma and Mukul Wasnik, who were part of the group of 23 leaders that had raised questions on the party's leadership under Sonia Gandhi, are among the general members of the new CWC. Manish Tewari and Veerappa Moily, who were also part of the grouping, have been made permanent invitees.

Significantly, the party failed to keep the promise of having 50 per cent of the members below 50 years, which was made at the party's plenary. For, barring Gaurav Gogoi, Sachin Pilot and Kamleshwar Patel, none in the main 39-member CWC is below 50 years of age. Kharge has, however, tried to induct some aged 50 or below such as Kanhaiya Kumar, Meenakshi Natarajan, Alka Lamba, Sachin Rao, Gurdeep Sappal, Supriya Shrinate, Praniti Shinde and Yashomati Thakur in the extended CWC as special and permanent invitees.

39 general members, 32 permanent invitees

While 39 members of the all-important panel are general members, it has 32 permanent invitees, including some in-charges of state and 13 special invitees, including presidents of the Youth Congress, the National Students' Union of India, the Mahila Congress and the Seva Dal as ex-officio members.

AK Antony, who had announced retirement from politics and whose son is now in the BJP, has been retained in the CWC. Former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Pratibha Singh have also been included in the important panel, according to a Congress statement. Sachin Pilot, who rebelled against the party's government in Rajasthan and was later removed as deputy chief minister, is also among the new CWC members.

Attempts have also been made to increase representation of women (14 members in the extended CWC including permanent, special and ex-officio invitees are women), Muslims, SCs and STs. Lal Thanhawla, Gaikhangam, Sudeep Roy Burman, Gaurav Gogoi from the north-east states also get a spot.

The CWC has been formed months after Kharge became the party president on October 10 last year and replaces the Steering Committee that was formed as a stop-gap arrangement.

Humbled and grateful: Shashi Tharoor 

Meanwhile, Shashi Tharoor tweeted that he is "honoured" by the nomination to the Working Committee. Further, he said, "As one who is aware of the historic role played by the CWC in guiding the party over the last 138 years, I am humbled and grateful to be part of this institution, and look forward to the opportunity to serve the party alongside my dedicated colleagues."

"None of us can accomplish anything without the lakhs of committed workers who are the lifeblood of the party. Today, above all, I bow to them. The countless Indians who seek a more inclusive and accepting India deserve the best from us," he added.

The new CWC

The general members of the CWC are Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, A K Antony, Ambika Soni, Meira Kumar, Digvijaya Singh, P Chidambaram, Tariq Anwar, Lal Thanhawala, Mukul Wasnik, Anand Sharma, Adhokrao Chavan, Ajay Maken, Charanjit Singh Channi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Kumari Selja, the statement said.

Gaikhangam, N Raghuveera Reddy, Shashi Tharoor, Tamradhwaj Sahu, Abhishek Singhvi, Salman Khurshid, Jairam Ramesh, Jitendra Singh, Randeep Surjewala, Sachin Pilot, Deepak Babaria, Jagdish Thakore, G S Mir, Avinash Pande, Deepa Das Munshi, Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya, Gourav Gogoi, Syed Naseer Hussain, Kamaleshwar Patel and K C Venugopal are also members. 

(With agency inputs)