Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday formed an organising committee, a constitution amendment committee and a drafting committee for the party’s plenary session to be held here from March 16 to 18.
The composition of the various committees clearly reflect Mr. Gandhi’s attempt to bring in a balance between the party’s “old guard” and younger leaders who are perceived to be closed to him.
Also reflecting the party’s priorities ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress chief set up a new sub-group specifically on agriculture, employment and poverty alleviation.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will head the drafting committee and Mukul Wasnik will be its convener, while party veteran and treasurer Motilal Vora will be chairman of the organising committee.
Another veteran, Oscar Fernandes, will be its convener.
Constitution committee
The committee that will examine the party constitution will have Ghulam Nabi Azad as its chairman and Janardan Dwivedi as convener.
The 10-member committee will also have senior leaders such as Ahmed Patel, P. Chidambaram, Mallikarjun Kharge and Kapil Sibal.
The drafting committee, comprising 44 senior members, has four sub-groups on political affairs, economic affairs, international affairs and agriculture and employment.
Former Defence Minister A.K. Antony will be the chairman of the political sub-group and former Finance Minister Chidambaram the chairman of the economic affairs sub-group.
Former Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma will head the group on international affairs, while former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will be preside over the sub-group on agriculture, employment and poverty alleviation.
Party preparedness
Ahead of the 2019 challenge, the party will brainstorm in New Delhi for three days to arrive at a strategy to challenge the BJP.
The party will also discuss about its preparedness in key election-bound States such as Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
This will be the Congress’s first plenary session with Mr. Gandhi as its president.
