Congress forms panels with eye on ’24
NEW DELHI: The Congress party on Tuesday announced three panels including a key political affairs group — to be headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi — and a Task Force 2024, signalling its desire to start preparing for the next national elections and prepare the ground for crucial organisational changes.
Rahul Gandhi is in the political affairs group and party general secretary Priyanaka Gandhi Vadra is a part of Task Force 2024.
Two prominent G23 members, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma, have been included in the political affairs group. But no G23 leaders have found place in the Task Force.
The formation of the political affairs panel and Task Force 2024 are significant, coming just nine days after the Udaipur Nav Sankalp Shivir (a brainstorming session) that promised organisational overhaul and efforts to revive the party’s poll prospects.
The third group will exclusively plan for the ambitious Kanyakumari to Kashmir “Bharat Jodo” yatra that will start from October 2. The panel has nine members including former Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijaya Singh, former Union ministers Sachin Pilot and Shashi Tharoor, and Lok Sabha MP Ravneet Singh Bittu.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi will preside over the political affairs group, which is an extension of the Congress working committee (CWC) and formed to advise her on important issues.
The composition of the panels indicates that while the party wants to create more space for youth, senior leaders continue to dominate the political affairs group and the task force; still, young leaders including Jothi Mani, Bittu and Pilot are a part of the Central Planning Group for the Coordination of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
In the Congress’s scheme of things, election planning has always been a late affair, starting months before the polls. “In 2004 and 2009, the preparations started with just 6-7 months left for the polls. The formation of the Task Force indicates we have started preparing for the general election two years in advance,” a senior leader said, requesting anonymity.
Briefing the media, Congress’s chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said: “Sonia Gandhi has also constituted a Task Force 2024 to look at the various elections as also our preparedness in the run up to the 2024 parliamentary elections. She has also constituted a group to look at the various grassroots programmes .”
The Task Force 2024 members are: P Chidambaram, Mukul Wasnik, Jairam Ramesh, KC Venugopal, Ajay Maken, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Randeep Singh Surjewala and poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu. The party’s communication added that “each member of the task force shall be assigned specific tasks related to organization, communication and media, outreach, finance and election management.”
The Task Force will also “follow up on the Udaipur Nav Sankalp Declaration and the reports of the six groups,” the statement said, indicating it would be the main committee that will oversee all future reforms and setting up of new committees.
The panel held its first meeting within hours of its formation, Surjewala added. “We have decided that we will continue to meet every 72 hours or more and we will prepare a detailed plan on each of the subjects: organization, finances, media communication and strategy, grassroots connect, election management and other issues, that come up for our consideration.”
The political affairs committee, drawing members from the CWC, includes Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Azad, Digvijaya Singh, Anand Sharma, KC Venugopal, and Jitendra Singh.
The central planning group for the coordination of the Bharat Jodo yatra, the Congress party’s biggest non-electoral campaign, will have Digvijaya Singh, Pilot, Tharoor, Bittu, KJ George, Jothi Mani, Pradyut Bordoloi, Jitu Patwari, and Saleem Ahmed as its members.