New Delhi: As part of the changes being introduced in the grand old party, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Thursday appointed four new members to the important Working Committee, which takes all the important decisions in conjunction with the top brass.
According to a release issued by the AICC general secretary in charge of the Organization, KC Venugopal, the Congress president appointed former union minister and former Haryana unit chief Kumari Selja and party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi as permanent members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC).
She also appointed T Subbarami Reddy as a permanent invitee to the CWC and former Uttar Pradesh unit chief Ajay Kumar Lallu as Special Invitee to the CWC. Party insiders said the new appointments have been done to balance regional representation in the top party body and also to balance power equations within the party.
Kumari Selja has been a former union minister in the previous UPA government and is considered close to the Congress president. Selja, a Dalit leader, was recently asked by Sonia to resign as the Haryana unit chief when the Congress president revamped the state team.
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Gandhi had named another Dalit face Udai Bhan as the new Haryana chief. The appointment of Udai Bhan was done at the behest of the former chief minister and Congress Legislature Party leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who has been at loggerheads with Kumari Selja.
The resignation of Kumari Selja was seen as a victory of the Hooda camp. The same group was also successful in blocking the path for another prominent non-Jat leader Kuldeep Bishnoi, who had been assured that he would be made the new Haryana chief.
Bishnoi, who was opposed to the Hooda camp, recently cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha elections causing the defeat of the party nominee from Haryana Ajay Maken. Later, Bishnoi said he had nothing against Maken but just wanted to teach a lesson to the Hooda camp.
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According to sources, the move to appoint Kumari Selja to the CWC was taken in this background and will hopefully send a positive message in Haryana. Abhishek Manu Singhvi is a Rajya Sabha member and a senior Supreme Court advocate, who has been defending the party in various TV debates and also in various court battles.
Given the recent exit of Kapil Sibal, former union minister and a senior Supreme Court advocate, it was a good move to include Singhvi in the CWC, said, party strategists. The recommendation for former UP unit chief Ajay Kumar Lallu had come from the AICC in-charge of state Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Priyanka had named Ajay Kumar as state unit chief when she took full charge of UP in 2019. After the party performed badly at the 2022 assembly elections in the state, Lallu had been asked to resign by Sonia Gandhi. Ajay Kumar, who is known as a fighter in party circles, had accompanied Priyanka during all her protests in UP in the past three years.
Kumar also took part in the recent protests in Delhi against ED summons to Rahul Gandhi. Sources said promotion for Kumar would send a positive message across UP where Congress is trying hard to revive the party. T Subbarami Reddy is a veteran parliamentarian and an old party hand.
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Subbarami's elevation to the CWC is expected to send a positive message in Andhra Pradesh, said, party insiders. Recently, the Congress president named veteran Jairam Ramesh as AICC general secretary in charge of the new communications department being set up.
