Three-day Cong plenary to begin in Delhi from March 16
NEW DELHI: A three-day plenary session of the Congress will be held in Delhi from March 16 to ratify Rahul Gandhi’s elevation as party chief and also reconstitute the Congress Working Committee (CWC).
The dates and place were decided by the 34-member steering committee of the Congress, which was constituted by Rahul on Friday after dissolving the CWC, the highest decision-making body of the party, and met on Saturday. “The plenary session will discuss and evolve the party’s future strategy,” Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said.
The plenary will be attended by the newly-elected All India Congress Committee (AICC) delegates. Delhi was chosen over Karnataka and Punjab as Parliament will be in session. While all outgoing CWC members are part of the new committee, some permanent invitees such as Captain Amarinder Singh, Vilas Muttemwar, RK Dhawan, Shivajirao Deshmukh, MV Rajasekharan and Mohsina Kidwai, and all special invitees have been dropped from the new panel. As per the party constitution, 12 of the 25 CWC members have to be elected by AICC delegates. The rest are appointed by Congress president.
The CWC has not witnessed any election in more than two decades now. Eliminating nomination culture at all levels has been Rahul’s much-desired objective. He is keen to hold internal elections across all rungs of the organisation and that includes the CWC. However, it remains to be seen if he is able to implement that goal.
At Saturday’s meeting, Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi said there were many old faces in the CWC and stressed the need to include young leaders. For his part, Rahul said while the senior leaders would be suitably accommodated, there would be adequate representation of youth, women and those belonging to SC and ST categories.