Congress sets up 3 panels for economic, foreign & security issues; 'dissenters' included

Amid internal turmoil in the grand old party, Congress interim-president Sonia Gandhi on Friday, constituted three committees to consider & discuss issues & policies related to Economic Affairs, Foreign Affairs & National Security. All three committees include ex-PM Dr. Manmohan Singh, while top Congress veterans Jairam Ramesh, Salman Khurshid and Vincent H Pala are convenors of the three panels. Incidentally, the three panels also include - Dr.Shashi Tharoor, Anand Sharma and Ghulam Nabi Azad - signatories who sought 'structural changes' within the Congress.

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Congress constitutes 3 panels

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Congress squashes dissent

Quashing all internal dissent, after a stormy Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, the grand-old party retained Sonia Gandhi as party chief till elections are called for in the next AICC meeting. Moreover, it passed a resolution strengthening the Gandhis' leadership and not allowing anyone to undermine the party or the Gandhis (Rahul and Sonia). 23 senior leaders sought 'structural changes', internal election to the CWC even at state levels, the formation of an Independent Election Authority, and institutional leadership mechanism, full-time leadership at the helm at the party. The 23 signatories include Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Rajender Kaur Bhattal, M. Veerappa Moily, Prithviraj Chavan, P.J. Kurian, Ajay Singh, Renuka Chaudhary, and Milind Deora -  belonging from the Congress' 'old guard ' and the 'young guard' (i.e Rahul Gandhi supporters). Post CWC meet, Congress announced its parliamentary panel excluding most signatories. 

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Congress president saga

Congress has been in a leadership dilemma since Rahul Gandhi quit as party chief in the post-Lok Sabha 2019 debacle. This led to a barrage of resignations from posts like Milind Deora, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Priyanka Chaturvedi and many more. Amidst a lot of turmoil with Priyanka Vadra too being considered, Congress finally went back to their safe option and named Sonia Gandhi as its interim chief till AICC session is held to choose the next president. Most leaders have time and again implored the 50-year-old Rahul Gandhi to take back the reins of the party, but he has not budged. Reports state that Congress is planning to hold digital elections, issuing digitised ID cards to its 1500 AICC delegates to decide the next Congress chief in the next few weeks.

Sonia Gandhi to continue as Congress interim-chief till fresh AICC elections are held