Contrary to the dominant opinion in the Congress that Shashi Tharoor will suffer the consequences of contesting the presidential election and questioning the way the party was run in his campaign, party president Mallikarjun Kharge has accommodated him in the committees for the 85th plenary session to be held at Raipur.
While Tharoor, who is indeed facing the music in Kerala with a section of the Congress still nursing a grudge against him for challenging the official line, has been included in the main drafting committee, he has also been made the convener of the sub-committee on foreign affairs. This should send a signal to party workers across the country that both the Nehru-Gandhi family and the party president have taken steps to accommodate the high-profile dissenter.Tharoor had not only contested against Kharge but he had also accused the party leadership of taking sides in the election, questioned the way the party affairs were being managed and presented himself as the panacea for the ills plaguing the Congress.
Mallikarjun Kharge. PTI picture
Apart from the decision to accommodate Tharoor, what stands out in the composition of the committees for the three-day plenary from February 24 is the rising stature of Jairam Ramesh. He has been made the chairman of the drafting committee, a role usually reserved in the past for veterans like Pranab Mukherjee. The general secretary in charge of communications is playing a critical role in the party’s revival process for the past few months.
The subgroup for political affairs is headed by M. Veerappa Moily, another leader who was a member of the now-disbanded G23. While former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan is the convener of the committee on political affairs, the members include Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Kumari Selja, Charanjit Singh Channi, Mullapally Ramachandran, Rajeev Shukla, Manickam Tagore, Deepak Babaria, N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, Pritam Singh, Debabrata Saikia, Kuldeep Singh Rathore, Gaurav Gogoi, Saptagiri S. Ulaka, Ghulam Ahmad Mir, Ganesh Godiyal, Subodh Kant Sahai, Arif Naseem Khan, Yashomati Thakur, Lalji Desai and Ragini Naik.
An attempt to promote younger leaders is clearly visible. While Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are not members of any committee, another notable omission is Digvijaya Singh. The committee on economic affairs is headed by P. Chidambaram. Gourav Vallabh is the convener of this group and the members are K. Siddaramaiah, Sachin Pilot, Su. Thirunavukarasar, K. Muraleedharan, Bharatsinh Solanki, Milind Deora, G. Sanjeeva Reddy, Praniti Shinde, Praveen Chakravarty, Salman Anees Soz, Vijay Inder Singla, Shailesh Parmar, J.D. Seelam and Nitin Raut.
A committee to amend the party constitution has also been constituted under the leadership of Ambika Soni. Randeep Surjewala is the convener of this important committee. The members include K.C. Venugopal, Mukul Wasnik, Ajay Maken, Jitendra Singh, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Mohan Prakash, Deepa Das Munshi and G. Parameshwara.
The group on international affairs is headed by Salman Khurshid, with Tharoor as the convener. This group includes Nabam Tuki, Sam Pitroda, Anand Sharma, Manish Tiwari, M.M. Pallam Raju, Deepender Hooda, Rajamani Patel, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Arvinder Singh Lovely, Madan Mohan Jha and Arti Krishna.
The group on agriculture is headed by former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, while the group on social justice and empowerment is led by Mukul Wasnik with veterans like Meira Kumar and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa being the members.
The group on youth affairs is helmed by Amarinder Singh Raja Brar, and young leaders like B.V. Srinivas, Kanhaiya Kumar and Jignesh Mevani are the members, along with others.
