Kharge replaces Congress' top decision-making body CWC with new panel. Sonia, Rahul, Priyanka members

In one of his first decisions as the new Congress party chief, Mallikarjun Kharge formed a Steering Committee with 47 members on 26 October 2022.

It's an interim group headed by Kharge which would function in place of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party's apex decision-making body. A new CWC would be formed after Kharge's election is ratified at the party plenary.

The new Steering Committee includes former party presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, and former prime minister Manmohan Singh. Other members include Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, P Chidambaram, Randeep Surjewala, and KC Venugopal.

Shashi Tharoor, who contested the Congress president election against Kharge, is not part of the new body. Anand Sharma, a CWC member and a prominent leader of the G23 dissident group that sought comprehensive changes in the party's functioning, has been retained in the Steering Committee.

None of the special invitees to the previous CWC under Sonia Gandhi have found a place in the new Steering Committee.

Kharge formally took over as the President of the Indian National Congress party earlier in the day.

(With PTI inputs)