Congress Working Committee
{{short description|Executive committee of the Indian National Congress (INC)}}
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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. It 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.
File:Gandhi Patel 1940.jpg 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."Towards a More Competitive Party System in India", Ram Joshi and Kirtidev Desai, Asian Survey, Vol. 18, No. 11. (Nov., 1978), pp. 1091-1116. 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:{{cite web | url=https://inc.in/congress-working-committee/members | title=Indian National Congress }}{{cite web | url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/mallikarjun-kharges-new-congress-working-committee-focus-on-polls-not-rocking-the-boat-4317840 | title=Analysis: New Congress Working Committee - Focus on Polls, Not Rocking Boat }}{{cite news | url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/congress-announces-reconstituted-working-committee-shashi-tharoor-sachin-pilot-new-additions/article67215877.ece | title=Shashi Tharoor, Sachin Pilot included in revamped Congress Working Committee | newspaper=The Hindu | date=20 August 2023 | last1=Phukan | first1=Sandeep }}
President
| class="sortable wikitable" |
| Name
! Portrait ! Position in government |
|---|
| Mallikarjun Kharge
| {{Ulist | Leader of the Opposition, Rajya Sabha }} |
| class="sortable wikitable" |
| S. No
! Member ! Portrait ! Position in government |
|---|
| 1.
| 75px | {{Ulist | Former Congress President }} |
| 2.
| {{Ulist | Leader of the Opposition, Lok Sabha | Former INC President }} |
| 3.
| 75px | {{Ulist | Former Member of Parliament }} |
| 4.
| 75px | {{Ulist | Former Member of Parliament }} |
| 5.
| 75px | {{Ulist }} |
| 6.
| 75px | {{Ulist | Former Member of Parliament }} |
| 7.
| 75px | {{Ulist }} |
| 8.
| 75px | {{Ulist | Former Member of Parliament }} |
| 9.
| {{Ulist }} |
| 10.
| | {{Ulist | Former Deputy Chief Minister, Manipur }} |
| 11.
| 75px | {{Ulist | Former Member of Parliament }} |
| 12.
| 75px | {{Ulist }} |
| 13.
| 75px | {{Ulist | Former Chief Minister of Mizoram }} |
| 14.
| 75px | {{Ulist | Former Union Minister of India }} |
| 15.
| 75px | {{Ulist | Former Chief Minister of Punjab }} |
| 16.
| | {{Ulist |Congress Party General Secretary }} |
| 17.
| 75px | {{Ulist | Former Union Minister of India }} |
| 18.
| 75px | {{Ulist }} |
| 19.
| 75px | {{Ulist | Former AP Congress President }} |
| 20.
| {{Ulist }} |
| 21.
| 75px | {{Ulist | Former Member of Parliament | Former Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan }} |
| 22.
| | {{Ulist | Former Member of the Legislative Assembly }} |
| 23.
| 75px | {{Ulist }} |
| 24.
| 75px | {{Ulist | Former Union Minister | Former Member of Parliament }} |
| 25.
| 75px | {{Ulist | Former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh }} |
| 26.
| 75px | {{Ulist | Member of the Legislative Assembly | Former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh }} |
| 27.
| 75px | {{Ulist | Former Speaker of Lok Sabha }} |
| 28.
| | {{Ulist | Former Gujarat Congress President }} |
| 29.
| | {{Ulist | Former J & K Congress President }} |
| 30.
| | {{Ulist | Former Member of Parliament }} |
| 31.
| 75px | {{Ulist | Former Member of Parliament }} |
| 32.
| 75px | {{Ulist | Deputy Leader of Indian National Congress in Lok Sabha }} |
| 33.
| | {{Ulist }} |
| 34.
| 75px | {{Ulist | Member of the Legislative Assembly }} |
| 35.
| 75px | {{Ulist }} |
| 36.
| | {{Ulist | Former Minister, Government of Maharashtra }} |
Permanent Invitees
| class="sortable wikitable" |
| style="text-align:center;"|S.no
!style="text-align:center;"|Member !style="text-align:center;"|Portrait ! style="text-align:center;" | Position |
|---|
| 1.
| |ex MLA, Uttar Pradesh |
| 2.
|75px |MP |
| 3.
| |Ex MP Lok Sabha |
| 4.
| |Ex MP Lok Sabha |
| 5.
|75px |ex MP, (Chandigarh) |
| 6.
|75px |ex MP, (Karnataka) |
| 7.
|75px |Former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand |
| 8.
|75px |MP |
| 9.
| |MLA, Rajasthan |
| 10.
|75px |MLA, Kerala |
| 11.
| |MLC, Karnataka |
| 12.
|75px |MP, chandigarh |
| 13.
|75px |MP |
| 14.
|75px |MP, Haryana |
| 15.
|Krishna Allavaru | | |
| 16.
|Girish Chodankar | | |
| 17.
| | |
| 18.
|75px |ex MP, Andhra Pradesh |
| 19.
|K Raju | | |
| 20.
| |Ex MLA |
| 21.
| 75px |MP Rajya Sabha, ex MLAMaharashtra |
| 22.
|75px |ex MP, Madhya Pradesh |
| 23.
|75px |MP |
| 24.
| |MP, Chhattisgarh |
| 25.
|75px |Cabinet Minister, Telangana |
| 26.
|75px |MLA, Tripura |
| 27.
|75px |MP |
| 28.
|75px |MP |
| 29.
| |MLA, Uttarakhand |
| 30.
|75px |MP |
| 31.
|75px |Ex MLA |
| 32.
|75px | |
| 33.
|Sachin Rao | | |
Special Invitees
| class="sortable wikitable" |
| style="text-align:center;"|S. No
!style="text-align:center;"|Member !style="text-align:center;"|Portrait ! style="text-align:center;" |Position |
|---|
| style="text-align:left; background:#fff;"
!1. |75px |President, All India Mahila Congress |
| style="text-align:left; background:#fff;"
!2. |Varun Choudhary | |President, NSUI |
| style="text-align:left; background:#fff;"
!3. |Uday Bhanu Chib | |President, IYC |
| style="text-align:left; background:#fff;"
!4. |Lalji Desai | |Chief Organiser ,Seva Dal |
| style="text-align:left; background:#fff;"
!5. |75px |Chairman, Social Media & Platforms |
| 6.
| |Ex MLA |
| 7.
|75px |MP |
| 8.
| |Ex MLA |
| 9.
| |ex President APCC |
| style="text-align:left; background:#fff;"
!10. |75px |Ex MLA |
| 11.
| |MP |
| 12.
|75px |ex-MP |
| style="text-align:left; background:#fff;"
!13. |Pawan Khera | |Chairman, Media & Publicity |
| 14.
| |Ex President J&KPCC |
| 15.
| |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.{{cite news|archive-date= 12 August 2019|url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/nobody-but-rahul-says-congress-leader-whose-father-ran-vs-sonia-gandhi-1759057|url-status= live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190812004128/https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/nobody-but-rahul-says-congress-leader-whose-father-ran-vs-sonia-gandhi-1759057|title=Nobody But Rahul, Says Congress Leader Whose Father Ran vs Sonia Gandhi|access-date=23 August 2020}} In 2017 Election Commission ordered it to hold internal elections{{cite news |title=Election Commission Tells Congress to Hold Internal Elections by June 30 |url=https://www.news18.com/news/politics/election-commission-tells-congress-to-hold-internal-elections-by-june-30-1342854.html|access-date =23 August 2020}} but as of 2020 no elections were held.{{cite news|url=https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/news/ec-can-freeze-congress-symbol-initiate-action-party-remains-leaderless |title= EC can freeze Congress symbol or initiate action if the party remains leaderless|author =Pankaj Vohra|date=August 8, 2020|access-date =23 August 2020}} 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."{{Cite web|url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/congress-defamed-rahul-gandhi-should-return-to-lead-sanjay-nirupam-after-maharashtra-twist-2137334|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200206174034/https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/congress-defamed-rahul-gandhi-should-return-to-lead-sanjay-nirupam-after-maharashtra-twist-2137334|archive-date = 6 February 2020|title = Congress "Defamed", Rahul Gandhi Should Return to Lead: Sanjay Nirupam After Maharashtra Twist}}
{{Cite web|url=https://www.news18.com/news/politics/old-grudge-unfulfilled-demands-why-rahul-gandhi-remained-absent-from-congresss-meet-on-delhi-riots-2516309.html|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200226123542/https://www.news18.com/news/politics/old-grudge-unfulfilled-demands-why-rahul-gandhi-remained-absent-from-congresss-meet-on-delhi-riots-2516309.html|archive-date = 26 February 2020|title = Old Grudge, Unfulfilled Demand: Why Rahul Gandhi Remained Absent from Cong's Meet on Delhi Riots|date = 26 February 2020}} 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."{{Cite web|url=https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/congress-moving-towards-extinction-54571/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200314154627/https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/congress-moving-towards-extinction-54571/|archive-date=14 March 2020|title=Congress moving towards extinction?}}
See also
References
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20160118225437/http://inc.in/organization/2/CWC Official All India Congress Committee website]
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20090831055222/http://www.congress.org.in/ Official Indian National Congress website]}}
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