Rahul Gandhi forms Congress working committee; See you on July 22
Video producer: Shohini Bose
Video editor: Purnendu Pritam
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday (July 17th) formed the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision-making body, a combination of young and old leaders. The CWC will hold its first meeting on July 22. The committee, which acts as an advisory committee on all key decisions, will lead the party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The CWC has 51 members – 23 core members, 18 permanent guests and 10 special guests. Incidentally, the party, which seeks 33% women in parliament and state assemblies, has three women among its regular members.
While the names of top leaders like Digvijaya Singh, Janardan Dwivedi, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Mohan Prakash, CP Joshi and Jairam Ramesh were missing from the list, Ashok Gehlot, Oommen Chandy, Tarun Gogoi, Siddaramaiah and Harish Rawat find mention among new entrants .
Chief Minister of Punjab Amarinder Singh, Head of State of Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath and the name of Head of State of Rajasthan Sachin Pilot were not on the list as per the norm. However, these leaders, along with other committee leaders from Pradesh, will attend the first meeting of the CWC on July 22.
Independent officials appointed for various states will be among the standing guests of the working committee as ex-officio members, while heads of five party front organizations – INTUC, Sewa Dal, Youth Congress, Mahila Congress and NSUI – will be part of the special guests.
It is the first CWC formed by the leader of Congress after assuming leadership of the party.
