New Delhi : Congress replaced its Working Committee with interim 47-member Steering Committee. Absent from the list conspicuously, is Shashi Tharoort. The Steering Committee replaces Congress Working Committee(CWC) - all the members of which resigned after Sonia Gandhi exited as party president and Mallikarjun Kharge took charge.
Ins and Outs
Ashok Ghelot, who withdrew from presidential race to keep his post as Rajasthan Chief Minister is not board.
Rahul, Priyanka and Sonia Gandhi are part of Steering Committee. Also on board are, Sonia family confidantes from Kerala - KC Venugopal, AK Antony and Oomen Chandy. Steering Committee also has Rahul’s advisors Ajay Makhan and Mandeep Surjaypal.
Picked from the rebel G-23 group is Anand Sharma leaving out Manish Tiwari, Prithviraj Chauhan, Bhupendra Singh Hudda and so forth. Women members other than Priyanka are : Ambika Soni, meera Kumar, Kumari Shailaja and Rajani Patil.
Following Kharge’s election as president, all members of CWC, the General Secretaries, and those in-charge of various states had submitted resignations – a procedure witnessed each time there occurs a change in party leadership.
As per Congress bylaw, a plenary meeting of the AICC must be called within three months of presidential election. It is the plenary meeting that lends formal recognition to the new president. Also a new working committee is elected. The president can nominate up to 11 names for the 25-member working committee or the CWC. The Steering Committee conducts affairs until the new CWC takes over.
