Congress chief Sonia Gandhi constituted a ‘political affairs committee’ to advise her on key issues and also set up a task force with the mandate to prepare the party for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, in a message to party workers that the leadership is readying the organisation for big electoral challenges.
Interestingly, the decision coincides with the third anniversary of Modi 2. 0.The committee, to be chaired by Sonia, gave representations to senior dissident leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma. The eight-member sub-panel of the Congress Working Committee includes Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ambika Soni, Digvijaya Singh, KC Venugopal and Jitendra Singh.
The panel, which was announced by Sonia at the chintan shivir, is a rebuff to G23’s demand for revival of the Congress parliamentary board. Discussion is rife if Congress will extend the olive branch to the G23 grouping with the upcoming Rajya Sabha nominations. Three senior members of the group are said to be under consideration.
In an obvious bid to signal to workers that Congress is serious about mass mobilisation, AICC also formed a planning group to coordinate ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. The two-month long Kanyakumari to Kashmir yatra will be launched on October 2 with the central message against “communalism and polarisation” under the BJP government. Digvijaya Singh is at the head of the 9-member planning group which also includes Sachin Pilot, MPs Shashi Tharoor, Ravneet Bittu, Pradyut Bordoloi, Jothi Mani and Jitu Patwari.
The Task Force-2024, which will include all polls as its mandate, has eight members including Priyanka Gandhi.
