CWC rejig

Let bygones be bygones — this seems to be the message conveyed by the top brass of the grand old party while reconstituting the Congress Working Committee (CWC). Former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, who has repeatedly raised the banner of revolt against CM Ashok Gehlot, has been made a regular member of the CWC. The attempt to placate Pilot is obviously aimed at dissuading him from harming the party’s electoral prospects in the desert state. Rajasthan is among the five states that go to the polls later this year, the others being Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Mizoram. The Congress, which had defeated the BJP in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh in the 2018 Assembly elections, is hoping for an encore. Its performance in these three Hindi-belt states will have a bearing on its ambition and ability to lead INDIA, the newly formed Opposition alliance, in the 2024 General Election.

The G23 rumblings seem to have taken a back seat in Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s scheme of things. Mukul Wasnik, Anand Sharma and Shashi Tharoor, who were part of the group of 23 dissident leaders who had written to then party president Sonia Gandhi and expressed resentment against the party’s leadership, have been accommodated as regular CWC members. It was Tharoor who had contested against Kharge for the Congress chief’s post last year, going against the party’s age-old tradition of choosing a consensus candidate.

Bridging the gulf between the old guard and the young brigade has been an uphill task for successive Congress presidents. Kharge has tried to do a balancing act on this count. Intra-party unity is obviously the top priority for the Congress, which has gained notoriety for scoring own goals in recent years. The party’s ‘all is well’ mantra will be put to the test as the elections draw closer.