Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 20: The former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, who is in constant loggerhead with the chief minister Ashok Gehlot, and the Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor, who had unsuccessfully contested the Congress presidential elections last year, have found places in the re-constituted Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest policy making body.
The reconstituted CWC was announced by the party president Mallikajun Kharge on Sunday co-inciding with the 79th birth anniversary of the former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. While the main CWC has been expanded to 39 from earlier 24, there are also 18 permanent, 14 in-charges, nine special invitees and heads of frontal organisations.
Sachin Pilot, who the party leaders believed could be given charge of some important states, has apparently been included in the CWC to provide some free-hand to Gehlot who was expected to lead the party in the elections to the state Assembly expected in the next few months.
The sulking Rajasthan leader Pilot has found a place in the CWC ahead of assembly elections as the party had been trying to placate the former deputy chief minister, who has recently, openly embarrassed his own party’s government in the state headed by his nemesis Gehlot.
Tharoor’s inclusion was expected to send a message that the party supports a vibrant internal democracy and contesting party elections did not create any enmity within the party. Tharoor was defeated by Kharge, who was presumed to be Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s choice even though the then outgoing president had vehemently denied having blessed either of the contestants.
The Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi as well Rahul Gandhi are CWC members by virtue of being past Congress presidents. Dr Manmohan Singh too is a members of the core CWC as a former Prime Minister. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is also part of the core CWC. The new CWC has been announced nearly six months after Kharge was authorised to nominate members to the CWC at the Raipur plenary session on February 24.
Other notable inclusions in the core CWC were former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, former Madhya Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh, former Speaker Meira Kumar, former Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi, former Lok Sabha member Deepa Das Munshi, Lok Sabha member Gaurav Gogoi and Rajya Sabha member Syed Naseer Hussain.
Lok Sabha member Manish Tewari and senior leader from Kerala Ramesh Chennithala, bureaucrat-turned-politician and close aide of Rahul Gandhi, K Raju, have been made permanent invitees, along with Kodikunil Suresh and Priniti Shinde. Younger leaders Alka Lamba, Supriya Shrinate, Pawan Khera have been made special invitees while Kanhaiya Kumar is in the CWC as the in-charge of students’ wing.
In addition to Tharoor, Anand Sharma has also found a place in the CWC. Both were among the 23 senior Congress leaders who wrote to party chief Sonia Gandhi, flagging key issues plaguing the party and seeking their resolution. The signatories to the latter came to be known as G-23 were then considered to be rebellions within the party virtually challenging Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s authority. Tharoor later also went on to contest the election for Congress president against Kharge.
Besides Pilot and Tharoor, Deepa Das Munshi, the wife of the former veteran leader and union minister late Priya Ranjan Das Munshi and Syed Nasser Hussain are new entrants to the CWC. Hussain is a Rajya Sabha member who has earlier served as Congress’s national media panellist.
“I am honoured by the decision of the @INCIndia President Shri Mallikarjun @Kharge ji and the Congress central leadership to nominate me to the Working Committee,” Tharoor said thanking Kharge in a post on X. “As one who is aware of the historic role played by the CWC in guiding the party over the last 138 years, I am humbled and grateful to be part of this institution, and look forward to the opportunity to serve the party alongside my dedicated colleagues,” the MP from Thiruvananthapuram said.
He said, “None of us can accomplish anything without the lakhs of committed workers who are the lifeblood of the party. Today, above all, I bow to them. The countless Indians who seek a more inclusive and accepting India deserve the best from us.”
The composition of the new CWC, however, flies in the face of the Congress’s plan to promote young leaders. Earlier this year, the party’s general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal had said half of the party’s officer-bearers should be under 50. In the new CWC, only three leaders are under 50 – Sachin Pilot, Gaurav Gogoi and Kamaleshwar Patel.
The members have also been nominated by the party president and not picked through an election. Though Congress’s Steering Committee had in February said it was unanimously decided to authorise party chief Mallikarjun Kharge to nominate all CWC members, sources said it was not unanimous as some leaders like Ajay Maken, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, and Digvijaya Singh had favoured elections at the 85th plenary session of the party held in Raipur.