Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday carried out a major revamp in the party organisation by reshaping the all-power Congress working committee (CWC) and brining new faces as general secretaries in place old guards.
Sonia apparently paid heed to the churning call given by 23 party leaders through a letter to her last month. The letter created a lot of flutters when Sonia offered to quit in the CWC meeting. However, many of the signatories of that controversial letter have been given important places in the party in a clear spirit of reconciliation.
The news teams also show that roadmap of being prepared for eventual takeover of Rahul Gandhi as the president of the party.
The new list of CWC members, general secretaries, general secretaries incharge of States reflects a mix of youth and experienced but preference is clearly tilted towards the former.
While several old guards have been sidelined, leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was among the prominent signatories of the letter to Sonia Gandhi. have found a place in the CWC. However, Azad is no more a general secretary.
In addition to being a general secretary, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is now also part of the CWC, which decides all the important decisions of the party. Another interesting inclusion in the CWC is that of Tariq Anwar, who had walked out of the Congress along with Sharad Pawar on the issue of Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin issue.
The composition of the team of general secretaries shows that Sonia has gone by Rahul Gandhi’s vision of a vibrant organisational squad to take on the BJP. Aging veterans like Azad, Moti Lal Vora, Mallikarjuna Kharge, Ambika Sonia, and Luizinho Falerio, have been removed as general secretaries.
The fact that Sachin Pilot does not find a central role in the party shows that he may again be brought back as the president of the Rajashtan congress. Sonia also constituted a 6-member special committee to assist her in organisational and operational matters. The members of this special committee are AK Antony, Ahmad Patel, Ambika Soni, KC Venugopal, Mukul Wasnik and Randeep Singh Surjewala.
The reconstituted CWC has new members like P Chidambaram, Jitendra Singh, Tariq Anwar and Randeep Surjewala.
The CWC will now have 22 leaders, while there will be 26 permanent invitees and 10 special invitees.
The CWC members are Sonia, Manmohan Singh, Rahul.Gandhi, A K Antony, Ahmed Patel, Ambika Sonia, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Harish Rawat, K C Venugopal, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mukul Wasnik, Oomen Chandy, Ajay Maken, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, P Chidambaram, Jitendra Singh, Tariq Anwar, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Gaikhangam, Raghubir Singh Meena and Tarun Gogoi. Rajeev Shukla and Pramod Tiwari too have found place in the CWC as Invitees.
The Central Election Authority continues to restore the faith in old horse Madhusudan Mistry who is considered close to Rahul Gandhi.
The members of the CEA include Rajesh Mishra, Krishna Gowda, S Jothimani, and former Delhi State chief Arvinder Singh Lovely. Lovely too had joined BJP and came into the party fold ahead of General elections 2019.
“The party whole-heartedly appreciates the contributions of outgoing General Secretaries Ghulam Nabi Azad, Motial Vora, Ambika Soni, Mallikarjun Kharge and Luizinho Faleiro,” said a letter signed off by Sonia Gandhi after the reorganised Committee.
Former Union Minister Jitin Prasada and also a signatory of the controversial letter gets a permanent invitee CWC membership. At the same time, he has also been made in-charge of West Bengal and Andaman Nicobar Islands. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra continues to be the general secretary in charge of UP and also a new CWC member.
Another leader who was among the 23 signatories, Mukul Wasnik, has been made the general secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh. Wasnik has also been named among the six leaders who are to “assist the Congress president in organizational and operational matters as expressed by her in the CWC meeting on August 24”.
Surjewala is among the biggest gainers of the shuffle. He has been named general secretary in charge of Karnataka and is also a member of the special committee. He also continues as chief spokesperson of the party. Senior party leader Ajay Maken, who was Central observer during Rajashthan crisis along with Surjewala, has been appointed the State general secretary incharge in place of Avinash Pandey.
The general secretaries are: Mukul Wasnik for Madhya Pradesh, Hraish Rawat for Punjab, Chandy for Andhra Pradesh, Tariq Anwar for Kerala and Lakhsdweep, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for Uttar Pradesh, Randeep Surjewala for Karnataka, Jitendra Singh for Assam, Ajay Maken for Rajasthan while KC Venugopal will continue to be the AICC GS Organization. Former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal will be GS Incharge of Administration, Shaktisii Gohil alongwith Bihar assigned in-charge of Delhi as well, Rajani Patil got Jammu Kashmir, Rajiv Shukla of Himachal Pradesh amongst the total of 17 GS incharge.
Saturday, 12 September 2020 | PNS | New Delhi
