Sonia reconstitutes CWC, Team Rahul gains

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday reconstituted the Congress Working Committee and leaders considered part of Team Rahul appear to have gained both in terms of prominence and in their presence in the changes made.

Party leaders Randeep Singh Surjewala and Jitendra Singh considered loyalists of Rahul Gandhi, are now full members of the working committee, the highest decision-making body of the party.

Surjewala is the biggest gainer in the reshuffle as he is also been made a general secretary in charge of Karnataka besides being a member of the panel to assist party chief Sonia Gandhi. Ajay Maken, who was recently made in-charge of Rajasthan, is also in the CWC.

Other leaders who are relatively young and considered part of Team Rahul in extended CWC include Mckam Tagore, Sushmita Dev, Kuldeep Bishnoi, Jitin Prasada, Shaktisinh Gohil, Devender Yadav, RPN Singh, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Sachin Rao, Rajeev Satav, Lalji Desai, Deepender Hooda, Vivek Bansal, Neeraj Kundan and BV Srinivas.

The expanded CWC now has 57 members from 52 earlier.

Senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma, who were signatories to the letter demanding reconstitution of CWC among other changes in the party, have been retained.

Tariq Anwar has also been made a member. Senior leader P Chidambaram is also a member of new CWC and the team is a mix of young and experienced leaders.

The CWC members are - Sonia Gandhi, Dr Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, AK Antony, Ahmed Patel, Ambika Soni, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Harish Rawat, KC Venugopal, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mukul Wasnik, Oommen Chandy, Ajay Maken, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, P Chidambaram, Jitendra Singh, Tariq Anwar, Randeep Singh Surlewala, Gaikhangam, Raghuveer Singh Meena and Tarun Gogoi.

Permanent invitees are - Digvijaya Singh, Meira Kumar, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Jairam Ramesh, Salman Khurshid, Avinash Pandey, KH Muniyappa, Pramod Tiwari, Tariq Hameed Karra, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Rajan Patil, PL Punia, RPN Singh, Shakti Singh Gohil, Rajeev Satav, Rajeev Shukla, Jitin Prasada, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Mckam Tagore, Chellakumar, HK Patil, Devendra Yadav, Vivek Bansal, Msh Chatrath, Bhakta Charan Das and Kuljit Singh Nagra.

The Special invitees to the working committee are: Deepender Hooda, Kuldeep Bishnoi, Chinta Mohan, Sachin Rao, Sushmita Dev, Lalji Desai, G Sanjeeva Reddy, Sachin Rao, Neeraj Kundan and BV Srinivas.

( With inputs from ANI )