Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge constituted a new Congress Working Committee on Sunday ahead of elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana. Shashi Tharoor, Sachin Pilot and former Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi are among the new members in the panel.
Besides Tharoor, another member of the G-23 group that sought party reforms, Anand Sharma, was added to the top decision-making body. “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 tweeted.
"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. 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," he added.
Sachin Pilot also thanked the leadership, saying, "I express my gratitude to respected Congress President Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge, CPP Chairperson Mrs. Sonia Gandhi and former President Mr. Rahul Gandhi for making me a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC). We all will strengthen the customs and ideology of the Congress and take it more strongly to the people."
Besides Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi, top party leaders including Adhir Ranjan Choudhary, A.K. Antony, Ambika Soni, Meira Kumar, Digvijay Singh, P. Chidambaram, Tariq Anwar, Lal Thanhawala, Mukul Wasnik, Ashokrao Chavan, Ajay Maken and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are part of the committee.
Other leaders include Kumari Selja, Gaikhangam, N. Raghuveera Reddy, Tamradhwaj Sahu, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Salman Kurshid, Jairam Ramesh, Jitendra Singh, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Deepak Babaria, Jagdish Thakor, G.A. Mir, Avinash Pande, Deepa Das Munshi, Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya, Gourav Gogoi, Syed Naseer Hussain, Kamaleshwar Patel and K.C. Venugopal.
The CWC reshuffle was earlier delayed due to the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the Karnataka assembly elections. The party's Steering Committee in February decided against holding elections to the CWC and instead authorised Kharge to nominate members.
Permanent invitees to the panel include Veerappa Moily, Harish Rawat, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Mohan Prakash, Ramesh Chennithala, B.K. Hariprasad, Prathiba Singh, Manish Tiwari, Tariq Hameed Karra, Deepender Singh Hooda, Girish Raya Chodankar, T. Subbarami Reddy, K. Raju, Chandrakant Handore, Meenakshi Natarajan, Phulo Devi Netam, Damodar Raja Narasimha and Sudeep Roy Burman.
Incharges include A. Chellakumar, Bhakta Charan Das, Ajoy Kumar, Harish Choudhary, Rajeev Shukla, Manickam Tagore, Sukhvinder Randhawa, Manickrao Thakre, Rajani Patel, Kanhaiya Kumar, Gurdeep Sappal, Sachin Rao, Devender Yadav and Manish Chatrath.
Pallam Raju, Pawan Khera, Ganesh Godiyal, Kodikkunil Suresh, Yashomati Thakur, Supriya Shrinate, Priniti Shinde, Alka Lamba and Vamshi Chand Reddy are special invitees. Ex-officio members include Indian Youth Congress (IYC) President Srinivas B.V., National Students' Union of India (NSUI) President Neeraj Kundan, Mahila Congress President Netta D'souza and Sevadal Chief Organiser Lalji Desai.
