21

Aug

G 23 dead Long live CWC

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New Delhi, August 21, 2023

The announcement on August 20, coinciding with the 79th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister and Congress youth icon Rajiv Gandhi, signifies that the party is rededicating itself to his vision of taking the country forward as one of the front-ranking nations in the world. 

Dr Satish Misra

By constituting the party’s key decision making body-the Congress Working Committee (CWC),  Congress chief Malikarjun Kharge has demonstrated that he is steadily but firmly moving on the path to make the country’s  grand old political party battle ready for the coming crucial state elections in coming months and the final Lok Sabha electoral exercise early next year.

The announcement on August 20, coinciding with the 79th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister and Congress youth icon Rajiv Gandhi, signifies that the party is rededicating itself to his vision of taking the country forward as one of the front ranking nations in the world.    

Structure and composition of the 84-member strong CWC shows that Kharge has made intense and serious efforts to put up a team that can take up challenges of different dimensions and pave the road for resurrection of the party that was being dismissed by political analysts few months back.

The new CWC is a combination of energy and experience. It is both a continuity as well as a change as the Congress leader has brought youth in ample numbers while also keeping experienced leader on the body. The highest decision making forum has representation from across the country and all important regions find representation in the CWC.

The working committee giving prominence to youth and leaders from election bound states and inducting dissidents including Lok Sabha MP Shashi Thaoor who contested against Kharge in the October 2022 Congress chief's election and Sachin Pilot from Rajasthan who revolted against his own government in 2020 is a sign of confidence and also magnanimity.

The new CWC has 39 regular members, 18 permanent invitees, 14 state in-charges, 9 special invitees, 4 ex officio members.

Inclusion of former Rajasthan deputy CM Sachin Pilot in the CWC is a clear message to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot that his bete noire cannot be overlooked.  Pilot is going to be made in charge of a big state. The Congress is facing a serious challenge from the BJP in Rajasthan and giving importance to Pilot who was the state unit chief and had led the party to victory in 2018 assembly elections is positive indication.

While veteran G23 leaders Anand Sharma, Mukul Wasnik and Shashi Tharoor who articulated the need for intra party reforms have been made regular CWC members among 39, Manish Tewari and Veerappa Moily have been inducted afresh as permanent invitees among 18.

Anand Sharma and Wasnik have been retained (they were part of the 49-member steering committee Kharge had formed in the interim before he finalised the CWC) while Tharoor, Tewari and Moily are new entries to the CWC.

The new list features Congress top brass, Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, former PM Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Vadra, Ambika Soni, AK Antony, P Chidambaram, Jairam Ramesh among others, as regular members.

Other fresh entries in the regular CWC segment are former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan, former Punjab CM Charanjit Channi, N Raghuveera Reddy, senior OBC leader from poll-bound Chhattisgarh Tamradhwaj Sahu, senior Gujarat leader Jagdish Thakor, GA Mir from J&K,

Deepa Dasmunshi from West Bengal, wife of late Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, has been brought in with an eye on the state where party’s political fortunes are at the lowest ebb.

MPs Gaurav Gogoi, who is a rising star finds place in the CWC. Rajya Sabha MP Syed Naseer Hussein was part on the national media panel of the AICC has also been brought in among others.

Former Himachal CM Virbhadra Singh’s wife, Mandi MP Pratibha Singh has been made a new permanent invitee.

Other leaders to be inducted afresh in the CWC as permanent invitees are Veerappa Moily, Mohan Prakash, Ramesh Chennithala, BK Hariprasad, Manish Tewari, Rahul Gandhi's close aides K Raju and Meenakshi Natarajan, MP Phulo Devi Netam and Kharge's confidante Gurdeep Sappal.

The list of nine special CWC invitees include senior Andhra Pradesh Congress leader Pallam Raju, AICC media chief Pawan Khera, former Uttarakhand Congress chief Ganesh Godiyal, MP K Suresh, Yashomati Thakur, and prominent Congress spokespersons Supriya Shrinate and Alka Lamba, along with former union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde's daughter Priniti Shinde.

Prominent leaders who have been dropped are Raghuvir Singh Meena from Rajasthan, Dinesh Gundurao, KH Muniyappa and HK Patil from Karnataka (all state ministers in Karnataka now), Congress deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Pramod Tiwari, PL Punia and Raghu Sharma.

Since the CWC has been nominated by party chief Kharge and has not been picked through elections, there is bound to be some criticism in media but overall composition reflects both foresight and prudence.

Though the Congress’s Steering Committee had said in February this year that it was unanimously decided to authorize the party president to nominate all CWC members but party insiders say that the decision was not unanimous with leaders like Ajay Maken, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and former MP Chief Minister Digvijay Singh favouring elections at the meeting held in Raipur where the party’s 85the plenary session was held.       

The decision to constitute the CWC through nomination instead of elections was taken as Kharge and other top leaders of the party felt that unity is the need of the hour particularly in the face of a rival like the BJP under duo leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Conscious of the fact that the BJP will go to any extent to retain power and is not shy of deploying any means-fair or foul, it was felt best to nominate as elections bring out competitions into open sharpening differences in views and approach which is often highlighted by sensation mongering media as divisions and disunity.

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