Rahul Gandhi wants 33% reservation for women, but has only 3 of 23 in CWC

Congress president shot off letter to PM Modi to ensure passage of Bill have 33% women in Parliament and state assemblies just 24 hours earlier; new CWC drops old guard inducts younger leaders

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday announced his party’s reconstituted Congress working committee, or CWC, which saw several veteran leaders being dropped and younger leaders inducted.

Merely 24-hours after the Congress president shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure the passage of the Bill that provides for 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies in the Monsoon session of Parliament, the reconstituted CWC has only three women among its 23 members - Sonia Gandhi, Ambika Soni and Kumari Selja.

This the first CWC under Rahul Gandhi as the Congress chief. The CWC under Sonia Gandhi was dissolved when elections were conducted to elect the new Congress chief. A steering committee had been put in place in February.

In the new CWC, senior leaders Janardhan Dviwedi, Mohan Prakash, C P Joshi, Digvijaya Singh, Kamal Nath, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Karan Singh and Oscar Fernandes have been dropped.

Younger leaders like Jitin Prasada, R P N Singh, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jeetendra Singh have been inducted. While former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was not included, his son and Lok Sabha member Deepender Singh Hooda has been inducted.

Interestingly, not a single leader from Punjab, not even Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, finds a place in the reconstituted CWC. Punjab, Mizoram and Karnataka are the only states where the Congress currently has state governments. In addition, it has a government in the union territory of Puducherry.

According to sources, Uttar Pradesh leader Pramod Tiwari and Rajiv Shukla also couldn’t find a place in the new CWC. While the two were not part of the earlier CWC, there was speculation that they might find a place in the reconstituted working committee.

Party sources said Congress president dropping Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh came as a surprise. Both leaders are key to Congress party's fortunes in the forthcoming assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh. Rajasthan state unit chief Sachin Pilot also couldn't find a spot in the CWC.

The reconstituted committee has 23 CWC members, 18 permanent invitees and 10 special invitees.

The 23 CWC members are – Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Motilal Vora, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, A K Antony, Ahmed Patel, Ambika Soni, Oommen Chandy, Tarun Gogoi, Siddaramaiah, Anand Sharma, Harish Rawat, Kumari Selja, Mukul Wasnik, Avinash Pande, K C Venugopal, Dipak Babaria, Tamradhwaj Sahu, Raghuvar Meena, Gaikhangam and Ashok Gehlot.

The 18 permanent invitees are – Sheila Dikshit, P Chidambaram, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Balasaheb Thorat, Tariq Hameed Karra, P C Chacko, Jeetendra Singh, R P N Singh, P L Punia, Randeep Surjewala, Asha Kumari, Rajni Patil, Ram Chandra Khuntia, Anugrah Narayan Singh, Rajeev S Satav, Shaktisinh Gohil, Gaurav Gogoi and A Chella Kumar.

The 10 special invitees are – K H Muniyappa, Arun Yadav, Deepender Hooda, Jitin Prasada, Kuldeep Bishnoi, president INTUC, president of the Youth Congress, president of National Students Union of India (NSUI), president of Mahila Congress and chief organisation of the Congress Seva Dal.