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New Delhi: Signalling Rahul Gandhi’s return to the helm of affairs in the Congress, interim president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday constituted an 11-member consultative committee.

The committee predominantly comprises members of Rahul’s team and excludes veterans such as A. K. Antony, Ahmed Patel, and Ghulam Nabi Azad who never missed out a place in any important committee in the past two decades.

The new committee will meet ‘virtually’ every day to deliberate on “matters of current concern and formulate the views of the party on various issues,” the principal opposition party said in a press communique. Apart from the Congress Working Committee (CWC), it’s the only other AICC committee in place.

Though former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been appointed chairman of the committee, with Rahul’s name coming after him on the list, Congress leaders didn’t miss the message — that Rahul has virtually taken direct control of the party affairs after sidelining veterans who were close to Sonia Gandhi since her entry in politics in 1998.

The consultative committee comprises party veterans former finance minister P. Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh, but party leaders concede that’s for “window dressing.”

The party’s decision to not sideline veterans such as Patel was said to be the main reason for Rahul’s refusal to return as Congress president — a post he had resigned from after the last Lok Sabha elections.

Sonia Gandhi was said to be disinclined but relented, finally. Rahul’s video interaction with reporters on Thursday was the first sign of the things to come in the Congress.

He is likely to address more such press conferences in the coming few days to buttress the message that he is in control now. During his media interaction, Rahul had pointed out how he was in touch with the chief ministers of Congress governed states and was giving them regular advice too.

The Consultative group is full of members from Rahul Gandhi’s team, including Randeep Singh Surjewala, K. C. Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Manish Tewari, Praveen Chakravarty, Gaurav Vallabh, Supriya Shrinate and Rohan Gupta.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha election in 2019, the then Congress president Rahul Gandhi had formed a nine-member committee include senior leaders A. K. Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad, P Chidambaram, Ashok Gehlot, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ahmed Patel, Jairam Ramesh, Randeep Surjewala and K. C. Venugopal. After the poll debacle the committee was dissolved by the party.

‘Committee formed to fight Covid-19 challenges’

Explaining the rationale and the mandate of the committee, a senior Congress leader said: “This committee has been formed to fight Covid-19 challenges and as the oldest and the principal opposition party it is our duty to provide constructive suggestions and positive criticism. The committee will lay the roadmap for fighting the economic pandemic and a strategy for kickstarting the Indian economy. It is our mandate to do this, whether the government will take the suggestions or not. This will also work on the health and economic strategy in nation’s interest”.

Also read: Rahul Gandhi’s advice to PM: Lockdown won’t defeat virus, biggest weapon is more testing

The formation of the new group marks a generational shift with three new and young faces being included in the committee, such as social media in charge Rohan Gupta. He was made in charge last year in September.

Similarly, Gaurav Vallabh who unsuccessfully contested the Jharkhand elections but is known for taking on BJP spokespersons such as Sambit Patra is also a member of the committee.

Supriya Shrinate who contested from Uttar Pradesh and lost has also been made a member. She is a former television news reporter and in the recent past has been addressing a series of press conferences on economic issues.

Praveen Chakravarty, who is the chairman of the AICC technology and data cell and considered a close-aide of Rahul Gandhi is also part of the consultative committee.

‘This group will give “voice to the people”’

“This group will be one that will frame the stand of the party on several issues and becomes all the more crucial in today’s scenario. A meeting of the group is likely to take place tomorrow,” said a senior Congress leader.

Terming the group as a right mix of maturity, experience and aggression, another leader pointed out that this group will give “voice to the people”. “The group has been constituted with care as most of the members are domain experts whether it is economic, social media, those who have worked at the policy level on agrarian issues among others. These people are going to have a dialogue with the people and those issues will then be raised in the meeting and the party will decide how to take it up,’ said another leader.

According to sources, many who have found a place in the committee are Rahul loyalists and the group will be the main platform for framing the stand of the party on several key issues. “Rahul Gandhi is not the president, but he is involved in the party affairs. He gives valuable suggestions and this group will streamline the party’s stand. There seems to be misdoubts and communication gap between what people want and what the party has been highlighting so this group will help address that,” said another leader.

Justifying the inclusion of the young leaders who have been made part of the group, another senior leader said as the economy is going to be a major concern for the country, especially in the current scenario where due to the lock down all businesses are impacted, most of the the young leaders come from an economics background and will have able to give valuable suggestions.

Also read: Why Rahul Gandhi remains India’s third-most important politician

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