The 85th plenary session of the Congress, which is being held on February 24 to 26 near Naya Raipur, will ratify the election of its President Mallikarjun Kharge, but the world outside will be watching closely how the new Congress Working Committee will be formed.
Congress leaders are wondering if the new President will hold the Congress Working Committee elections and pave the way for strong grassroots leaders to contest or will he continue with the nomination system prevailing during the presidency of his predecessor Sonia Gandhi.
The Congress has almost half the CWC members as elected and half nominated by the Congress President. However, their is a strong demand for the internal elections which was also part of the charter of demand when 23 Congress leaders wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi for visible leadership.
In Raipur the party is likely to amend the Constitution apart from holding elections, but if the majority of the AICC members authorises Kharge to constitute the new CWC their could be no elections.
Apart from the CWC elections, the AICC members will be divided into six groups and each group will discuss, debate and come out with a resolution on various issues, including politics, elections and road ahead apart from crucial issues.
However, Party General Secretary Organisation has been non-committal on the CWC elections and has said to “wait and see”.
But when he announced dates of the plenary on January 2, he has said, “CWC elections will also be held during the plenary session.”
If there is election then many senior Congress leaders are willing to throw their hat to be in the CWC, but Shashi Tharoor, who is likely to be included in the new CWC, has reiterated that he is not going to contest the Congress Working Committee (CWC) election.
“I have already said that I am not interested in an election again and hence contesting, if an election to the CWC, is held is ruled out,” Tharoor said.
Asked if he expects to be nominated, he said, “I am not expecting anything,” and when further asked, if an election to the CWC is needed, he replied, “There have always been two opinions on this issue and the Constitution is also clear on it,” said Tharoor.
The Congress working committee (CWC) has 25 members, including the party president. Twelve are nominated by the party chief and the rest 12 are elected by the AICC members.
In October, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had set up a 47-member Steering Committee, which included his predecessors Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in place of the CWC.
However, the party is planning a grand welcome to Rahul Gandhi on the completion of Bharat Jodo Yatra and the Bharat Yatris may get nominated to the AICC.
The Congress this year will be contesting major elections in big states where it is directly pitched against the BJP. Starting from Karnataka, which has more than two dozen Lok Sabha members, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the elections hold are a test for the Congress as well as the BJP. Congress is in power in two of the election-bound states.
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