Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has formed a 47-member steering committee that will now function in place of the Congress Working Committee. The decision was announced by a press release issued on 26th October 2022 by the Congress general secretary KC Venugopal.
The Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has constituted the Steering Committee which would function in place of the Congress Working Committee.
— ANI (@ANI) October 26, 2022
Senior party leaders including former PM Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others are the members of the Committee. pic.twitter.com/pbAQrlecZE
In the notice, KC Venugopal said, “As per article XV(b) of the Constitution of the Indian National Congress, the Congress President has constituted the Steering Committee which will function in place of the Congress Working Committee. The list of the members of the Steering Committee is enclosed herewith.”
The list of the members includes all three members of the Gandhi family who are active in politics, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Apart from the first family in Congress, the list includes several veteran party leaders like Dr. Manmohan Singh, AK Antony, Jairam Ramesh, Randeep Surjewala, Ambika Soni, Ajay Maken, Harish Rawat, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and many other senior leaders loyal to the Gandhi family. The 47-member list covers regional representation among the included leaders.
The 47-member committee also includes Anand Sharma, a member of the G-23 rebel group in the party. The group had written to Sonia Gandhi demanding sweeping changes within the Congress party.
Interestingly, senior Congress leader and Kerala MP Shashi Tharoor is excluded from this list. He had contested the election for the post of Congress president against Mallikarjun Kharge. This exclusion is speculated to be a punishment to the Trivandrum MP for contesting against the Gandhi family loyalist.
Wow
— PallaviCT (@pallavict) October 26, 2022
So @ShashiTharoor gets punished for contesting in the Congress President polls by not being added in this steering committee ?
Great going for internal party democracy
Dekh raha hain Shashi?
I mean Binod😂😂 pic.twitter.com/agrp0rJNls
Shashi Tharoor had openly expressed his views about the elections being hosted on an uneven playing field during his election campaign. Though he had said that all is well within the party. After Kharge was elected as the president of the Congress party, Shashi Tharoor accepted that the Gandhi family will remain the foundational pillar of the party. Now, he has failed to secure a spot in the Congress Steering Committee.
The Congress Steering Committee will function as the Congress Working Committee till a new CWC is constituted. Earlier today, all members of the existing CWC submitted their resignations, along with all general secretaries and in-charges of various departments in the Congress party.
The existing officer-bearers of the party have resigned to enable the new president to form new teams. An election will take place to elect 12 members of the CWC, while 11 members will be nominated. The party president will also select the other office bearers. The new CWC will be reconstituted by Mallikarjun Kharge after the plenary session of the Congress party scheduled to be held in March-April next year, where his election as the party president will be ratified. Therefore, the Congress Steering Committee will run the party till that time.
