Hours after he took over his new assignment on Wednesday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge formed a 47-member steering committee of the party. The new panel will function in place of the Congress Working Committee, the highest decision making body of the party, till the plenary session is held.
Most of the members of the last CWC have been retained in the new committee. Besides former party president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh, the list included senior party leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, A.K. Antony, Ambika Soni, K.C. Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Ajay Maken, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Randeep Surjewala.
Kharge has also included Anand Sharma who was part of the G-23, a group of senior leaders who had written a letter to Sonia Gandhi seeking an organisational overhaul of the party.
However, Shashi Tharoor, who had contested against Kharge in the party presidential election, did not find place in the steering committee. Tharoor was earlier heading the Professional Congress wing of the party but resigned ahead of the party's presidential election.
Earlier in the morning, all CWC members and office bearers of the party tendered their resignations to the new party chief to enable him to choose his own team.
The steering committee will now take all decisions till the ratification of Kharge's election at the party's plenary session attended by all PCC delegates. The session is likely to be held in March next year.
