Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday constituted the party’s Working Committee, its highest decision-making body. The Opposition party, which released a list of the panel’s members, said the committee would meet on July 22. This is the first Congress Working Committee Gandhi has formed after assuming charge of the party in December.
Senior Congress leaders Digvijaya Singh, Kamal Nath, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Mohan Prakash, CP Joshi and Janardan Dwivedi have been dropped from the panel, ANI reported. The other prominent exclusions are Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh –who was earlier a permanent invitee to the body – former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, former Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and senior leaders such as Mohan Prakash, Oscar Fernandes, Mohsina Kidwai and Karan Singh, NDTV reported.
Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s son Deepinder Singh has been made a special invitee. Mukul Wasnik, Avinash Pande, KC Venugopal, Dipak Babaraia, Tamradhwaj Sahu, Gaikhangam and Ashok Gehlot are among the new faces in the committee. Gandhi has also included former Chief Ministers Oomen Chandy, Tarun Gogoi, Siddharamaiah and Harish Rawat.
Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, former Union minister P Chidambaram, Jyotiraditya Scindia, spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, Balasaheb Thorat, Tariq Hameed Karra and PC Chacko are among the permanent invitees.
The advisory body was dissolved before the party’s plenary in March. The previous panel was given the title of a steering committee, Hindustan Times reported.
The committee includes 23 members, 19 permanent invitees and nine special invitees.
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