Despite the symbolic resignations of the Congress office bearers, ostensibly to let newly elected president Mallikarjun Kharge choose his team, the party decided to maintain the status quo as it named a 47-member steering committee on Wednesday.
The committee included former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, as well as former Prime minister Manmohan Singh. Most of the office-bearers – general secretaries and in-charges – have also been included in the newly constituted steering committee.
In a statement, the party general secretary, KC Venugopal, said that the committee will function in place of the Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest decision-making body. The committee will function till the plenary session is held.
New members of the Working Committee will be chosen at the next AICC (All India Congress Committee) session.
Earlier in the day, moments after Kharge took over the charge from Sonia Gandhi at party headquarters in New Delhi, all the CWC members, general secretaries, and AICC secretaries resigned from their posts.
Besides Gandhis and Singh, the Steering Committee also has AK Antony, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Ajay Maken, Ambika Soni, Anand Sharma, Avinash Pande, Gaikhangam, Harish Rawat, Jairam Ramesh, Jitendra Singh, Kumari Selja, Venugopal, Mukul Wasnik, Oommen Chandy, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, P Chidambaram, Randeep S Surjewala, Tariq Anwar, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Digvijaya Singh among others.
The internal elections in Congress were held on October 17 and results were announced on October 19.
The internal elections in the grand old party took place after a gap of over 22 years, following multiple calls for change and active leadership.
Kharge is now scheduled to visit poll-bound Gujarat on October 29, his first visit as the new party chief.
He will be visiting Navsari in Gujarat, said Leader of the Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly Sukhram Rathva, after the CEC meeting here at the party headquarters.
According to a party source, approximately 129 candidates for the Gujarat assembly elections were discussed during the CEC. “About 80 per cent of the names have been decided,” Rathva said.