Congress forms three key panels signalling its preparations for next general elections

|HT|

The Congress on Tuesday formed three key panels, including a Political Affairs Group and Task Force-2024, signalling its preparations for the next general elections. Rahul Gandhi is a part of the group while Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is that of the Task Force. The third panel will exclusively plan for the Kanyakumari to Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra from October 2 and has nine members including Digvijaya Singh, Sachin Pilot, Shashi Tharoor, and Ravneet Singh Bittu. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will preside over the political affairs group.

The composition of the panels suggests the party wants to create more space for the younger leaders. The Political Affairs Group and the Task Force-2024 are almost entirely dominated by senior leaders. The Central Planning Group for the Coordination of the Bharat Jodo Yatra has younger leaders such as Sachin Pilot, Jothi Mani, and Ravneet Singh Bittu.

The panels were formed nine days after an organisational overhaul and setting up of key groups to revive the party’s prospects were discussed at Congress’s Udaipur Nav Sankalp Shivir. The Task Force-2024 also includes P Chidambaram, Mukul Wasnik, Jairam Ramesh, KC Venugopal, Ajay Maken, Randeep Singh Surjewala and Sunil Kanugolu. In a statement, the party said each member of the group shall be assigned specific tasks related to organisation, communication and media, outreach, finance, and election management.

The Task Force will also “follow up on the Udaipur Nav Sankalp Declaration and the reports of the six groups,” indicating it will oversee the proposed internal reforms and also public outreach.

The Political Affairs Committee’s role will be to advice the Congress chief on key issues and day-to-day matters and includes Mallikarjun Kharge, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Digvijaya Singh, Anand Sharma, KC Venugopal, and Jitendra Singh.

The Central Planning Group will coordinate the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Congress’s biggest non-electoral campaign. It will also include KJ George, Jothi Mani, Pradyut Bordoloi, Jitu Patwari and Saleem Ahmed.

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