Congress President Mallikarjuna Kharge has reconstituted the Congress Working Committee (CWC), said the party in a press release on Sunday.
The CWC is the apex decision-making body of the Congress party and provides leadership and guidance to the party. It often draws its members from the members of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and the top leaders of the party.
Kharge, who took over as Congress President last year, announced a 47-member Steering Commitee within hours of assuming charge. The Steering Committee had replaced the CWC.
The reconstituted CWC has 39 members, 18 permanent invitees, 14 in-charges, nine special invitees, and four ex-officio members.
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Besides Kharge, top Congress leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, P Chidambaram, and Jairam Ramesh are the members of the CWC.
G-23 members Shashi Tharoor and Anand Sharma are also members of the CWC and so is former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minsiter Sachin Pilot, who led a rebellion against CM Ashok Gehlot in 2020 and has been taking on his own party's government in the state in recent years. Gehlot is not included in the committee and there is speculation if the move is related to the Rajasthan assembly elections slated to be held later this year.
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Earlier in February, the Congress party had authorised Kharge to select all the members of CWC without holding any elections to the panel.
A report said that Tharoor, a member of the G-23 and who contested for the party presidency against Kharge, could be given a greater role in the 2024 general elections as the party looks forward to wrest power from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) through the collective might of the Opposition bloc INDIA
