Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge
Credit: PTI Photo
Sachin Pilot, Shashi Tharoor, Gaurav Gogoi and Syed Nasir Hussain on Sunday made their way into the Congress Working Committee with party chief Mallikarjun Kharge finally setting up the high-power panel with 39 members in an exercise that took months of discussion that saw claims being accommodated, adjusted and guillotined.
Along with 39 members, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, Kharge also chose 32 permanent invitees, including state in-charges, and 13 special invitees, including presidents of Youth Congress, NSU(I), Mahila Congress and Seva Dal, as part of the CWC that will form his core team.
The announcement of the CWC was much delayed, as Kharge took over ten months ago following an election that took place after a gap of 25 years and six months after the Raipur Plenary that gave him a blanket permission to nominate the members to the CWC but with a new quota regime in place with 50 per cent earmarked for youth, Dalits, tribals, women, OBCs and minorities.
However, it was not clear whether the quota norm was implemented in full. Of the 39, there were only six women and three – Pilot, Gogoi and Kamaleshwar Patel – below the age of 50. Nine other women are among Permanent and Special Invitees while youth faces like Kanhaiya Kumar also find space in the list.
The list did not show radical departure from the past, as most of the 39 were part of the previous CWC, including like KC Venugopal, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Digvijaya Singh, P Chidambaram, Tariq Anwar, Jairam Ramesh, Randeep Surjewala, Ambika Soni, Meira Kumar and Kumari Selja.
AK Antony, considered a close confidante of the Gandhis and in semi-retirement by shifting to Thiruvananthapuram after announcing that he will not play a role in national politics, has retained his space in the panel.
Ambika Soni too wanted to be kept outside but Kharge thought otherwise. Similar is the case with some leaders in Permanent and Special Invitee lists.
The new CWC is seen as a balancing and accommodation but one aspect that stands out is Kharge’s attempt to send a message to keep party chief ministers under check by inducting their bete noire in the panel.
Pilot has walked his way into the CWC after a running battl with Ashok Gehlot while Tamradhwaj Sahu, a tall leader in Chhattisgarh, has been a claimant for Chief Ministership that Bhupesh Bhagel had managed to make his own.
Incidentally, Kharge also did a balancing act in Rajasthan where he inducted Minister Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya, who is considered close to Gehlot.
From Himachal Pradesh, Congress has included Pratibha Singh, another claimant for Chief Minister but lost to Sukhwinder Singh Sukku, and Anand Sharma, while at least three leaders have been inducted into the high-powered panel from Karnataka.
From his home-state Karnataka, his close aide Hussain, who is Rajya Sabha Whip and AICC Coordinator in Congress president’s office, as well as Permanent Invitees M Veerappa Moily and BK Hariprasad, who is a known Siddaramaiah rival, were included. Along with Hussain, he has also brought in Gurdeep Sappal, another AICC Coordinator in his office and AICC Secretary (Administration) as a Special Invitee.
There was speculation about Kharge inducting Tharoor but he chose to overlook other contenders from Kerala to put his premium on his rival in party presidential polls. Ramesh Chennithala, who was hopeful of a seat at the high table but had to satisfy to be just a Permanent Invitee, expressed his dissent subtly with a “not responding” remark to media, while Lok Sabha Chief Whip Kodikkunnil Suresh made it as Special Invitee.
Former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi is a surprise entrant while leaders like Anand Sharma, Mukul Wasnik and Manish Tewari (Permanent Invitee), who along with Tharoor had signed the G-23 letter that questioned the leadership, also found space in the panel.