The steering committee includes former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former Congress presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Most of the CWC members have been retained in the panel. The new CWC will be formed after Mallikarjun Kharge’s election is ratified at the party plenary likely to be held in March next year.
New Delhi: Mallikarjun Kharge who took over as a new Congress president on Wednesday set up a 47-member steering committee that will replace the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the apex decision-making body, till a new CWC is formed. The committee includes former prime minister Manmohan Singh and party’s former presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, party sources said.
The steering committee has most of the CWC members. Kharge announced the formation of the panel immediately after taking over as the new head of the party.
Meanwhile, all CWC members and office-holders of the party put in their papers to the new president so that he might form his own team. Congress leader KC Venugopal said that according to article XV (b) of the party constitution the committee will function till a new CWC is set up after Kharge’s election is ratified at the party plenary. The steering committee will take all the decisions till ratification of Kharge’s election at the plenary to be attended by all PCC delegates. The plenary may be held in March next year.
Sonia Gandhi’s guidance invaluable: Gehlot
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said that the change of guard is an emotional moment for all partymen and that Sonia Gandhi’s guidance is invaluable for the Congress.
When she took over as Congress president in 1998, the party did not have a government at the Centre and faced many challenges in the states, too, but once she took over as the party head, the Congress formed governments in many states, Gehlot said.
The government of the United Progressive Alliance led by Manmohan Singh was in power from 2004 to 2009 and from 2009 to 2014, he said.
