Congress Working Committee

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The Congress Working Committee (CWC) is the executive committee of the Indian National Congress. It was formed in December 1920 at Nagpur session of INC which was headed by C. Vijayaraghavachariar. The CWC is composed of senior party leaders and is responsible for taking decisions on important policy and organizational matters, as well as guiding and directing the party's activities and campaigns at the national level. It typically consists of fifteen members elected from the All India Congress Committee (AICC). The CWC is headed by the party president, who is elected by the members of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), the party's central governing body.

Contents

Mahatma Gandhi attends a Congress Working Committee meeting at Anand Bhavan, Allahabad; Vallabhbhai Patel to the left, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit to the right, January 1940. Gandhi Patel 1940.jpg
Mahatma Gandhi attends a Congress Working Committee meeting at Anand Bhavan, Allahabad; Vallabhbhai Patel to the left, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit to the right, January 1940.

The Working Committee has had different levels of power in the party at different times. In the period prior to Indian independence in 1947, the Working Committee was the centre of power, and the Working President was frequently more active than the Congress President. In the period after 1967, when the Congress Party split for the first time (between factions loyal to Indira Gandhi and those led by the Syndicate of regional leaders including Kamaraj, Prafulla Chandra Sen, Ajoy Mukherjee, and Morarji Desai), the power of the Working Committee declined; but Indira Gandhi's triumph in 1971 led to a re-centralisation of power away from the states and the All-India Congress Committee and caused the Working Committee in Delhi to once again be the paramount decision-making body of the party. [1] The centralised nature of Congress decision making has since caused observers in the states to informally describe instructions from Delhi as coming from the High Command.

Composition of Congress Working Committee

Sources: [2] [3] [4]

President

NamePortraitPosition in government
Mallikarjun Kharge
Shri Mallikarjun Kharge takes over the charge of Union Minister for Railways, in New Delhi on June 19, 2013 (cropped).jpg

Members [5]

S. NoMemberPortraitPosition in government
1. Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi 2014 (cropped).jpg
2. Rahul Gandhi Rahul Gandhi.png
3. A. K. Antony A. K. Antony.jpg
4. Ambika Soni Ambika Soni.jpg
5. Abhishek Singhvi Abhishek Manu Singhvi at the India Economic Summit 2008.jpg
6. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury The Minister of State for Railways, Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury addressing at the presentation of the National Awards for Outstanding Service in Railways, in Mumbai on April 16, 2013 (cropped).jpg
7. Ajay Maken Ajay Maken at NDTV Sports event.jpg
8. Anand Sharma Anand Sharma - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2012.jpg
9. Jairam Ramesh Jairam ramesh.jpg
10. Gaikhangam Gangmei
11. Jitendra Singh The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs & Sports, Shri Jitendra Singh addressing the media persons after his visit from Lausanne, Switzerland, in New Delhi on May 16, 2013.jpg
12. Selja Kumari Selja - Kolkata 2011-11-05 6516 Cropped.JPG
13. Dr Lal Thanhawla Lal Thanhawla.jpg
14. Mukul Wasnik Mukul Wasnik in January 2010.jpg
15. Charanjit Singh Channi Charanjit Singh Channi.png
16. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra
17. P. Chidambaram Palaniappan Chidambaram - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2011 (cropped).jpg
18. Randeep Surjewala Randeep Surjewala.jpg
19. N. Raghuveera Reddy N. Raghu Veera Reddy.png
20. Tariq Anwar
Tariq Anwar addressing the National Conference of State Ministers of Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Fisheries, in New Delhi on February 06, 2013.jpg
21. Sachin Pilot Sachin Pilot at the India Economic Summit 2010 cropped.jpg
22. Tamradhwaj Sahu
23. Shashi Tharoor Sasi Tharoor 2021 at Kollam.jpg
24. Salman Khurshid Salman Khurshid portrait (cropped).jpg
25. Digvijaya Singh Digvijaya Singh (cropped).jpg
26. Bhupesh Baghel Bhupesh Baghel.jpg
27. Meira Kumar Meira Kumar.jpg
28. Jagdish Thakor
29. Ghulam Ahmad Mir
30. Avinash Pandey
31. Deepa Dasmunsi The Minister of State for Urban Development, Smt. Deepa Dasmunsi addressing at the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding between EEPC India, CII & Kotra, in New Delhi on January 16, 2014.jpg
32. Gaurav Gogoi Gaurav Gogoi 2024.jpg
33. Syed Naseer Hussain
34. Kamleshwar Patel Kamleshwar patel bhaiya.jpg
35. K. C. Venugopal K.C. Venugopal addressing at the Concurrent session - Young Achievers, at the 12th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 'Engaging Diaspora Connecting Across Generation', in New Delhi on January 07, 2014 (cropped).jpg
36. Balasaheb Thorat

Permanent Invitees

[6]

S.noMemberPortraitPosition
1. Ajay Kumar Lallu ex MLA, Uttar Pradesh
2. Rajeev Shukla RajeevShukla.jpg MP
3. A. Chellakumar Ex MP Lok Sabha
4. Pratibha Singh Ex MP Lok Sabha
5. Pawan Kumar Bansal PawanKumarBansalChd.JPG ex MP, (Chandigarh)
6. Veerappa Moily Veerappa Moily BNC.jpg ex MP, (Karnataka)
7. Harish Rawat HarishRawat.jpg Former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand
8. Rajani Patil Rajani Patil official portrait.jpg MP
9. Harish Chaudhary MLA, Rajasthan
10. Ramesh Chennithala Ramesh Chennithala profile 02.jpg MLA, Kerala
11. B. K. Hariprasad MLC, Karnataka
12. Manish Tewari Manish Tewari.jpg MP, chandigarh
13. Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa.jpg MP
14. Deepender Singh Hooda Indian Red Cross Society.jpg MP, Haryana
15.Krishna Allavaru
16.Girish Chodankar
17. Gurdeep Singh Sappal
18. T. Subbarami Reddy T.Subbarami Reddy.jpg ex MP, Andhra Pradesh
19.K Raju
20. Manikrao Thakre Ex MLA
21. Chandrakant Handore MP Chandrakant Handore.jpg MP Rajya Sabha, ex MLAMaharashtra
22. Meenakshi Natarajan Meenakshi Natarajan.jpg ex MP, Madhya Pradesh
23. Manickam Tagore Manickam Tagore.jpeg MP
24. Phulo Devi Netam MP, Chhattisgarh
25. Damodar Raja Narasimha Damodara Rajanarsimha.jpg Cabinet Minister, Telangana
26. Sudip Roy Barman Shri Sudip Roy Burman.jpg MLA, Tripura
27. K. Sudhakaran K.sudhakaran.jpg MP
28. Akhilesh Prasad Singh The Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Agriculture, Dr. Akhilesh Prasad Singh addressing at the National Productivity Awards Ceremony for the Agriculture Sector, in New Delhi on May 24, 2007 (cropped).jpg MP
29. Qazi Mohd Nizamuddin MLA, Uttarakhand
30. Saptagiri Ulaka Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka.jpg MP
31. Vijay Inder Singla Shri-Vijay-Inder-Singla.jpg Ex MLA
32. Kanhaiya Kumar Kanhaiya Kumar.jpg
33.Sachin Rao

Special Invitees

[7]

S. NoMemberPortraitPosition
1. Alka Lamba AlkaLambaNew.jpg President, All India Mahila Congress
2.Varun ChoudharyPresident, NSUI
3.Uday Bhanu ChibPresident, IYC
4.Lalji DesaiChief Organiser ,Seva Dal
5. Supriya Shrinate Supriya shrinate during press conference.jpg Chairman, Social Media & Platforms
6. Challa Vamshi Chand Reddy Ex MLA
7. Kodikunnil Suresh kottikkunni[?] sureess.jpg MP
8. Yashomati Thakur Ex MLA
9. Gidugu Rudra Raju ex President APCC
10. Ganesh Godiyal Ganesh Godiyal.png Ex MLA
11. Praniti Shinde MP
12. M. M. Pallam Raju The Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Dr. M.M. Pallam Raju addressing at the release of the National Achievement Survey - Class III Children Achievement Report, in New Delhi on February 28, 2014.jpg ex-MP
13.Pawan KheraChairman, Media & Publicity
14. Vikar Rasool Wani Ex President J&KPCC
15. Naseem Khan Ex MLA Maharashtra

Criticism

The Congress has not held internal elections for CWC for nearly 20 years and the last elections were held in 1998. [8] In 2017 Election Commission ordered it to hold internal elections [9] but as of 2020 no elections were held. [10] When Congress was trying to forge an alliance with ideologically opposite Shiv Sena in Maharashtra in 2019, Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam publicly urged Sonia Gandhi to dissolve the CWC, saying "they cannot be trusted anymore." [11] [12] In 2020 a paper by Observer Research Foundation calls a large number of CWC members "unprincipled, opportunists and self-serving individuals for whom self-interest is paramount." [13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Towards a More Competitive Party System in India", Ram Joshi and Kirtidev Desai, Asian Survey, Vol. 18, No. 11. (Nov., 1978), pp. 1091-1116.
  2. ↑ "Indian National Congress".
  3. ↑ "Analysis: New Congress Working Committee - Focus on Polls, Not Rocking Boat".
  4. ↑ Phukan, Sandeep (20 August 2023). "Shashi Tharoor, Sachin Pilot included in revamped Congress Working Committee". The Hindu.
  5. ↑ "Indian National Congress - Congress Working Committee".
  6. ↑ "Indian National Congress - Congress Working Committee". Archived from the original on 20 July 2019.
  7. ↑ "Indian National Congress - Congress Working Committee". Archived from the original on 17 July 2019.
  8. ↑ "Nobody But Rahul, Says Congress Leader Whose Father Ran vs Sonia Gandhi". Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  9. ↑ "Election Commission Tells Congress to Hold Internal Elections by June 30" . Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  10. ↑ Pankaj Vohra (8 August 2020). "EC can freeze Congress symbol or initiate action if the party remains leaderless" . Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  11. ↑ "Congress "Defamed", Rahul Gandhi Should Return to Lead: Sanjay Nirupam After Maharashtra Twist". Archived from the original on 6 February 2020.
  12. ↑ "Old Grudge, Unfulfilled Demand: Why Rahul Gandhi Remained Absent from Cong's Meet on Delhi Riots". 26 February 2020. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020.
  13. ↑ "Congress moving towards extinction?". Archived from the original on 14 March 2020.
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