The list of the new Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s top decision-making body, may be an attempt at projecting a unity in diversity of sorts with Lok Sabha elections a few months away.
Alongside, the party has reached out to even some young leaders who have ruffled the feathers of their state chief ministers. The latter, in turn, have been delivered a clear message – this far and no further.
Also, for some time, the grand old party of India has been trying to project an image that Congress leadership is more about than just the Gandhi family. By electing, and then leaving the final choice of the CWC to a non-Gandhi president of the party, there has been a conscious effort at building a perception in this regard.
The list also intends to arrest the image of the party as sliding into uncertainty and unease every which way. The turn in election fortunes at Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka too have gone a long way in boosting the morale of party members.
What has mattered most is the new avatar of Rahul Gandhi, who has managed to break out of the “pappu” mode with emotive speeches and polite aggressiveness. His Bharat Jodo Yatra, followed by the re-induction in Lok Sabha, have added in giving a fillip to the party psyche.
In the process, G-3 has prevailed over G-23. While the former includes Sonia, Rahul, and Priyanka, the latter comprises a group of 23 Congress leaders who had written a letter seeking a stronger leadership.
Some of its members, like Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kapil Sibal, have since quit the party.
Among others, Anand Sharma, Mukul Wasnik, Shashi Tharoor, are some prominent names from the erstwhile G-23 who have been made CWC members, while Manish Tewari has been named permanent invitee.
And at the same time, the leadership has rewarded loyalty. Inclusion of A K Antony and Ambika Soni are such examples, though both had requested the leadership against considering their name, given their age and health conditions.
While Shashi Tharoor was included in the CWC, some senior leaders from Kerala were overlooked. Ramesh Chennithala has been named as permanent invitee, while Kodikunnil Suresh is a special invitee.
Other state leaders in the list are former defence minister A K Antony and K C Venugopal.
One reason for Tharoor’s inclusion is being seen as the party high command trying to avoid a controversy after his attempt at throwing the gauntlet against Mallikarjun Kharge, who undeniably had the blessings of the Gandhis for the party president’s post.
In the new list, Kharge has introduced 39 regular members, 32 permanent invitees, including some in-charges of state, and 13 special invitees – such as presidents of the Youth Congress, the National Students' Union of India, the Mahila Congress, and Seva Dal, as ex-officio members.
Among the regular members, one name that stands out is that of Deepa Das Munshi. In 2016, she gladly accepted her party’s decision to contest against West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee from the Trinamool chairperson’s backyard in Bhowanipore.
Though the result was a foregone conclusion, some Bengali journalists had then dubbed her entry as having added a zing to the uneven contest.
And last year, the wife of the late Congress heavyweight Priya Ranjan Das Munshi was the party’s screening committee chairperson for Himachal Pradesh elections. Congress managed to make a comeback in the state.
She has also been named a member in the new CWC.
Another noticeable entrant is former Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president N Raghuveera Reddy. The backward caste leader had stepped down following two successive Assembly elections defeats (2014 and in 2019).
Meanwhile, in a not-so-subtle message to Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his counterpart in Chhattisgarh, Bhupesh Baghel, their respective bete noirs – Sachin Pilot and Tamradhwaj Sahu – have been accommodated.
With Sachin Pilot, Manish Tewari, Kanhaiya Kumar, and Alka Lamba are among those who find a place for the first time in the Kharge’s core group.
It seems the Congress High Command has tried to pen a list that weighs in the classical norm of the Congress having elders in its top leadership, while accommodating youth and women.
In its 85th plenary session in Raipur earlier this year, the Congress had an amendment introducing 50 per cent reservation to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs, minorities, women, and the youth.
It is now time for the rejigged committee to take to the roads against the seemingly unchallengeable BJP juggernaut. And at this time, it will be a literal "perform or perish" situation for the grand old party facing a challenge of “Congress-mukt Bharat” slogan of Narendra Modi.
