Speculation over CWC members

Oct 14, 2010 - Age Corespondent |

New Delhi

A guessing game has begun in the Congress whether 12 members of the Congress Working Committee would be “elected” through a contest or by nomination on November 2 when the AICC meeting would be held in the national capital.
The Congress high command has convened the AICC meeting to constitute the CWC, the highest decision-making body of the party following Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s re-election as the party chief for a fourth term.
AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi on Wednesday announced the schedule for the CWC election but insiders said the CWC would be constituted without a contest. A resolution in this regard would be moved either in the AICC meeting or a unanimous view could be conveyed to the party president before that.
The CWC shall consist of the party president, the CPP leader and 23 other members of whom 12 members will be elected by the AICC and the rest 11 members shall be appointed by the Congress chief.
Earlier, the 12 members of the CWC were elected in the Tirupati (1992) and Kolkata (1997) plenary sessions held under the presidentship of P.V. Narasimha Rao and Sitaram Kesri.
So far, no contest has been witnessed for the CWC since Mrs Gandhi took over as party chief way back in April 1998. She had constituted the apex body without a contest in Bengaluru (2001) and Hyderabad (2006) plenary sessions.
“If the PCC presidents are appointed by evolving a consensus then what is the need for a contest for CWC membership,” asked the party insiders.
If consensus is the mantra of Mrs Sonia Gandhi, AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi has been opposing the nomination culture by insisting on actual contests for the party posts.
The Congress has decided to review its constitution and a small group is expected to be constituted for the purpose.
A meeting of the CWC recently had decided that the party chief should constitute a small group of party leaders to go into the party constitution for giving suggestions for possible changes in keeping with the times.
According to party sources, the amendments being mulled by the party could include raising the tenure of Congress president from three to five years.

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