Rahul constitutes new Congress Working Committee, drops veterans' names
What's the story
Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday constituted the Congress Working Committee (CWC), which was earlier dissolved prior to the election of Congress President.
Gandhi has dropped the names of veterans like Digvijay Singh, Janardan Dwivedi, Kamal Nath, Sushilkumar Shinde, and Karan Singh from the party's highest decision-making body.
The CWC was not in place since the plenary session in March.
Here's more.
Extended CWC
Gandhi to hold first meeting of CWC on July 22
The new CWC includes 23 regular members, 19 permanent invitees, and nine special invitees.
Incidentally, the party, which is seeking 33% reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies, has only three women among the regular members.
Gandhi will also convene the first meeting of the extended CWC on July 22 to chalk out future strategy.
The meeting will include all state unit presidents.
Names
Who is included in the new CWC?
In new CWC, Gandhi banked on other veterans like AK Antony, Ahmed Patel, Ambika Soni, Motilal Vora, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Kumari Selja.
Besides Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Gandhi has included most former Congress CMs Ashok Gehlot, Oommen Chandy, Tarun Gogoi, Siddharamaiah, and Harish Rawat.
Rawat has also been made the party general secretary in-charge of Assam affairs.
Exclusions
Who were the prominent exclusions from the CWC?
Other prominent exclusions are Punjab CM Amarinder Singh, who was earlier a permanent invitee to the body, former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, former Himachal CM Virbhadra Singh and party veterans Mohan Prakash, Oscar Fernandes, CP Joshi, Mohsina Kidwai.
However, Hooda's son Deepender Singh has been made a special invitee.
The permanent invitees include former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit, Chidambaram, Jyotiraditya Scindia among others.
New CWC
Gandhi's new CWC has a blend of old, new leaders
Gandhi's new CWC team, the names of which was released by Ashok Gehlot, has a blend of old and new leaders.
Though it signifies a shift towards youth leadership, the old guard hasn't been completely left out as Gandhi had himself said at the party's plenary session that he will move forward with the experience of the old and the energy of the youth.
New faces
Who are the new faces in CWC?
Among the new faces are Mukul Wasnik, Avinash Pande, KC Venugopal, Tamradhwaj Sahu, Gaikhangam and Ashok Gehlot, whom Rahul has also made party General Secretaries.
Among the special invitees to the CWC include KH Muniyappa, Arun Yadav, Deepender Hooda, Jitin Prasada, and Kuldeep Bishnoi.
Chiefs of Congress's frontal organizations INTUC, Seva Dal, Youth Congress, Mahila Congress have also been included as ex-officio special invitees.