Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday announced a 47-members steering committee to conduct the affairs of the party and included Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the panel. Besides the Gandhis, all Congress Working Committee members were also made a part of the steering committee.
Former PM Manmohan Singh, Priyanka Gandhi, AK Antony, Ambika Soni, Anand Sharma, KC Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala are also part of steering committee formed by Kharge.
As per convention, after the election of a new Congress President, the CWC is dissolved and a steering committee is formed to conduct the affairs of the party.
Earlier in the day, all members of the Working Committee, general secretaries and in-charges tendered their resignations to the new Congress president.
According to the constitution of the Congress, the election of Kharge as party chief will be ratified at the plenary session of the party that is likely to be held in March-April next year, PTI reported.
The new CWC, the top decision-making body of the Congress, will be reconstituted by Kharge soon after the plenary session.
According to the party constitution, 11 members of the CWC will be nominated and 12 will be elected. Besides, the leader of the party in Parliament and the Congress president will also be the members of the working committee.
IN PICTURES | Gandhis Pass The Baton To Mallikarjun Kharge As He Takes Over As Congress Chief
Mallikarjun Kharge formally took over as Congress president on Wednesday, saying he would like to thank the party for making a worker's son and an ordinary worker president of the grand old party.
Kharge's immediate task will be to lead the party to power in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, where it faces an aggressive BJP and an ambitious AAP. Kharge will visit Gujarat, home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on October 29 and address a gathering at Navsari.
Kharge, the first non-Gandhi to head the party in 24 years, had defeated Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor in a direct contest for the party president's post.
Speaking at the AICC headquarters in Delhi, Kharge said the party would demolish the government's "system of lies, treachery and hatred".
"What kind of new India is this where youth are not getting jobs, farmers are being crushed under jeeps, atrocities taking place against women are rising, people are reeling under price rise but government is sitting with eyes closed, government is helping a few crony capitalist friends," Kharge said.
In this "new India", Kharge said, the government was sleeping but the Enforcement Directorate, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Income Tax department work for 24 hours to "suppress the opposition". "Dalits, minorities and exploited people are being insulted and opportunities taken away from them," he alleged.