Congress constitutes 3 committees for 2019 general elections

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday constituted three committees-- core group committee, manifesto committee and publicity committee to oversee the party's strategy for the upcoming 2019 General Elections.

Old guards have been given space in the nine-member core group committee which includes leaders like A. K. Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ashok Gehlot, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ahmed Patel, Jairam Ramesh, P. Chidambaram, Randeep Surjewala and K. C. Venugopal.

Party' 19-member manifesto committee includes Chidambaram, Ramesh, Salman Khurshid and 16 new leaders.

The 13-member publicity committee comprises a mix of veterans and young blood. Anand Sharma, Surjewala, Manish Tiwari, Pramod Tiwari, Rajeev Shukla, Milind Deora, Bhakta Charan Dass are the old players while Jaiveer Shergill, Divya Spandana, Pawan Khera, Kumar Ketkar, VD Satheesan and Praveen Chakravarty are the new names in the committee.

Interestingly, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has not been included in any of the committees formed for the Lok Sabha elections battle. The party has not yet confirmed the heads of each committee.

As the general elections is inching closer, the Congress is making all-out efforts to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Central Government.

Earlier this month, the party constituted a six-member task force to look into the alleged Rafale scam, ahead of the 2019 general elections. The Congress is also set to hold district-wise protests to reach out to the general public and make them aware of the deal.