The election of Mallikarjun Kharge as Congress president has initially triggered positive responses within the party but many senior leaders believe he will be judged by his ability to rise above factional influences and take decisions objectively.

While the dominant view is that he believes in consensual politics and collective leadership, two decisions that are keenly awaited by the majority of leaders are how the Congress Working Committee (CWC) will be constituted and whether the demand for revival of the Parliamentary Board is accepted.

The party constitution mandates election for 12 of the 24 CWC members and a nine-member Parliamentary Board to take all crucial decisions.

The last time election to the CWC happened was in 1997 when Sitaram Kesri was party president. The system of the Parliamentary Board was abandoned after P.V. Narasimha Rao’s regime in 1995.

Kharge hasn’t indicated his mind so far but sources believe he will concretise his decision only after talking to all the important leaders.

There is a section in the party that believes a coterie had taken control of the organisation over the past few years and those who questioned decision-making processes were sidelined.

They argue that the emergence of G-23, a separate bloc in the party, was a result of this discrimination and they expect Kharge to accommodate all groups and viewpoints. Kharge will formally take over on October 26 at an event in Delhi to which all senior leaders, office-bearers and former functionaries have been invited.

It will not be easy for him to reconstitute the CWC as most of the incumbent members are seen as Rahul Gandhi loyalists.

Holding an election may be an easier option for Kharge than evolving a consensus. It will also be interesting to see whether three members of the Nehru-Gandhi family — Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra — will be accommodated in the CWC.

Shashi Tharoor, who wasn’t a member of the CWC, will now be aspiring to be accommodated in the highest policy-making body. But it won’t be easy because he has antagonised a large section of leaders by making allegations about the absence of a level playing field and about rigging in elections.

Central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistri manifested this unease when he pulled up Tharoor for alleging that the election authority was “conspiring against him”.

News agency ANI quoted from the letter written to Tharoor by Mistri: “We accommodated your request and despite that, you went to the media alleging the Central Election Authority was conspiring against you. I am sorry to say that you had one face before me which communicated that you’re satisfied with all our answers and a different face in the media which made all these allegations against us.”