After discussions with Rahul Gandhi, Kharge may announce his new team during the upcoming Navratri festival.
NEW DELHI: Constituting a new team has become a challenging and tricky task for Congress President Mallikarjuna Kharge, with most of the leaders being associated with, and close to the Gandhi family. Many of them are the ones whom Kharge has himself appointed. So, Kharge is in a dilemma over “selection and rejection”.
At the same time, there is no possibility of implementing the Udaipur declaration, as Kharge cannot afford to drop the leaders who are involved in important responsibilities for the party for a decade now. Similarly, it will be equally difficult for Kharge to ensure a balance in terms of caste and state representations. Kharge may not be able to make appointments in the organisation as per the reservation provisions. It is pertinent to note that the Congress could not till date follow the 10% reservation rule for women. After discussions with Rahul Gandhi, Kharge is likely to announce his new team during the upcoming Navratri festival.
The new Congress Working Committee (CWC) will have 35 members. There is only a negligible number of leaders from Hindi states in this body. The party is in the worst condition in Uttar Pradesh where the Gandhi family comes from.
The party witnessed massive decline in this largest Hindi state since Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took charge there. So, all eyes will also be on whether Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will continue to be in charge of Congress in UP. However, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra cannot be relieved of this responsibility if she insists on continuing as UP in-charge. Kharge will not remove K.C. Venugopal as in charge of the organisation, as he is the most trusted lieutenant of Rahul Gandhi and the entire Gandhi family. Venugopal is said to be the third most powerful leader after Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in the Congress hierarchy.
There is speculation that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may choose either Rae Bareli or Amethi to contest Lok Sabha election from. There is also a dearth of leaders in Bihar Congress. Tarik Anwar and Meira Kumar are the only two big faces who could be accommodated in the team. The leaders who will surely get accommodated in the CWC include former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, former PM Manmohan Singh, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K.C. Venugopal, Ambika Soni, Jairam Ramesh, Jintendra Singh, P. Chidambaram, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Selja Kumari, Adhir Rajnaj Chowdhury, Pawan Kumar Bansal and Tarik Anwar. Rajiv Shukla will be rewarded for the Himachal Pradesh victory. Since Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, and J.P. Aggarwal have recently been appointed in-charge of Rajasthan and MP respectively, they might be safe for now. Anand Sharma will also get a berth in CWC.
Ramesh Chennithala may replace Oommen Chandy. Gujarat leader Shaktisinh Gohil and Assam leader Tarun Gogoi are also sure to get berths in CWC. Manickam Tagore may be given a promotion. There is only a fifty-fifty chance for Jharkhand in-charge Avinash Pandey and A. Chellakumar.
The same prediction is also for Mukul Wasnik, who is among the longest serving general secretaries of the Congress. He may be given the Maharashtra responsibility. Similarly, the choice is between legal luminaries Vivek Tankha and Abhishek Manu Singhvi. It will be interesting to see whom the Congress chooses.
Devender Yadav, Harish Choudhary, Raghu Sharma, Harish Rawat, H.K. Patil, Raghuvir Meena, P.L. Punia, Ajay Maken, Ajay Maken, Pramod Tiwari, Rajani Patil, Ajay Kumar, Bhakt Charan Das and Manish Chatrath are also some of the names doing the rounds. Around 25 old faces may be repeated. The reservation-based claims and political setting will be witnessed for the remaining ten seats of the CWC. It will also be interesting to see whether Digvijaya Singh and Mohan Prakash will return to the highest decision making body. Both the leaders played a key role in the success of the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Mohan Prakash has been given responsibility of the screening committee for Telangana. All eyes will also be on whether Kharge includes Sachin Pilot, Arun Yadav and Sanjay Nirupam in his team. Kharge will find it difficult to implement the resolutions incorporated in the Raipur Plenary declaration.