Congress president Sonia Gandhi has demonstrated exceptional political maturity by refusing to punish the so-called dissenters and seeking to strike a perfect balance between the old and the young to steer the ship out of turbulence at a time unity of purpose overrides other concerns.

On Friday, the Congress set in motion the substantial organisational shuffle awaited since the party suffered a humiliating defeat in the 2019 parliamentary elections.

Sonia moved cautiously to avoid any serious eruption of discontent by forcing a generational shift. Although some younger faces have been accommodated, she has taken care not to send out any message of a purge based on age and the erroneous perceptions of disloyalty.

This exercise may attract criticism for the failure to give the party a radical facelift but there is another opportunity to make amends when the Congress plenary is held within the next six months. Elections to key organisational posts may take place then.

The new party president, who is expected to take over at that time, is bound to pick his or her own team although the Congress is not known for enforcing quick changes.

While Ghulam Nabi Azad, who has been pleading with the party leadership to relieve him of organisational assignments after decades of service, ceases to be general secretary, he has been retained in the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision-making body of the party.

Two other members of the “Group of 23” who wrote the letter about the drift in the party — Anand Sharma and Mukul Wasnik — have also been retained in the CWC.

Among the younger leaders who signed the letter, Jitin Prasada has been given charge of Bengal.

Wasnik, one of the key figures among the dissenters, has been included in the special committee that will assist the Congress president in her day-to-day work. The appointment shows that Sonia and Rahul Gandhi acted sensibly, not in pique to take revenge. This important committee will include A.K. Antony, Ahmed Patel, Ambika Soni, Wasnik, K.C. Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala.

Patel’s continuance in the top echelons of the party indicates Rahul agreed to play safe at this critical juncture instead of running the risk of ejecting the entrenched forces.

Sachin Pilot has not been accommodated in any committee. Nor have Kapil Sibal, Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari or Veerappa Moily, who had signed the letter, found place in the CWC or anywhere else. Another young leader ignored is Milind Deora.

Randeep Surjewala is doubtless a big gainer from the shuffle, although he may not remain the communications chief any more. Surjewala does not only get accommodated in the top committee, he has also been appointed general secretary with charge of the important state of Karnataka.

The other big gainer is former Union minister Pawan Bansal, who gets charge of party administration in place of the veteran Motilal Vora, in addition to permanent invitee status in the CWC.

While the main CWC hasn’t been overhauled, several talented people have been accommodated as permanent invitee to pack the key committee with more experience and dynamism. The members include, among others, Digvijaya Singh, Salman Khurshid, Jairam Ramesh and Pramod Tewari.

P. Chidambaram, who was a special invitee earlier, has now been made a regular member of the CWC.

Tariq Anwar, who rejoined the Congress after quitting Sharad Pawar’s NCP, has been made general secretary in charge of Kerala. Former Karnataka minister H.K. Patil has been made general secretary with the charge of Maharashtra.

All these appointments show there is no bias against the seniors although several younger leaders have been inducted into the high command structure.

While Dinesh Gundu Rao, former working president of the Karnataka unit, has been given charge of Tamil Nadu, Goa and Puducherry, young Manickam Tagore gets Telangana and Delhi’s Devender Yadav, Uttarakhand.

Although greenhorns have not been promoted, the organisation now has a fair representation of new leaders who have experience and are supposed to be close to Rahul. They are Ajay Maken, Surjewala, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jitendra Singh, Shaktisinh Gohil, Tagore, Rajeev Satav and Venugopal.

Rajeev Shukla will now look after Himachal Pradesh while Manish Chatrath gets Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.

Mallikarjun Kharge, Luizinho Faleiro and Vora cease to be general secretaries. Gaurav Gogoi, Asha Kumari, Anugrah Narayan Singh and R.C. Khuntia have also been dropped.