Cong working panel to hold first meet in Telangana on Sept 16
The first meeting of the reconstituted Congress Working Committee (CWC) will be held in poll-bound Telangana on September 16-17
The first meeting of the reconstituted Congress Working Committee (CWC) will be held in poll-bound Telangana on September 16-17 in a departure from the usual practice of holding such meetings at the party’s national headquarters in New Delhi.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has convened a meeting of the committee in Hyderabad on September 16, general secretary KC Venugopal said on Monday. On the next day, the extended panel will meet with state Congress unit presidents, office bearers of the Congress parliamentary party and Congress legislative party leaders.
It is possibly the first time when the committee will be meeting outside Delhi, a party leader said, seeking anonymity. “Steering committees have met across the country. But after Independence, this is the possibly the first time when the CWC is meeting outside Delhi,” said the leader known for in-depth knowledge of party history.
Telangana is expected to go to polls by December along with Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram. The Congress is fighting against both the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the southern state.
“Holding the first meeting of the recently reconstituted CWC in Telangana definitely has a political sub-context,” a committee member said, declining to be named.
The working committee, the highest executive body of the Congress, was reconstituted on July 20, with at least 22 new faces in the panel, including party MPs Shashi Tharoor, Gaurav Gogoi and Manish Tewari, and former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot.
In the latest organizational rejig on Sunday, a number of prominent young leaders have been elevated, erstwhile rebels—including those from the now-defunct G23 group of leaders—have been given prominence and veterans and loyalists have been rewarded. The new committee has also expanded quota for castes, minorities and women for the first time.
The meeting will be followed by “a big public rally around Hyderabad on September 17. The rally has been organized to coincide with the liberation day of Hyderabad on September 17,” Venugopal said. “In the rally, the Congress will also announce five guarantees to the people of the state.”
Kharge will also flag off the cavalcades of leaders to 119 assembly constituencies of Telangana, Venugopal said. “All the leaders will stay overnight in their respective allotted assembly constituencies,” he said.
On September 18, Congress leaders will start doorstep outreach in their respective segments and make people aware of the party’s five guarantees and details of a charge sheet against the incumbent regime.
Parliamentarians who are members of the working committee will not participate in this programme because they will have to return to New Delhi for the special session of Parliament.
