oppn parties CWC Revamp: Getting Battle Ready

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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oppn parties
CWC Revamp: Getting Battle Ready

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2023-08-22 16:36:21

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has reconstituted the party's highest decision making body, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) to make it battle ready for the ensuing state polls in crucial states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh as well as the 2024 general elections. After having been credited with deftly handling the internal contradictions in the party post its victories in Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh and also not allowing the tiff between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan to get out of hand, Kharge has now done a fine balancing act to fill the CWC with leaders keeping in mind the various factions in state units. He has brought Sachin Pilot from Rajasthan and Kamleshwar Prasad from MP, among others, to reduce the chances of dissent in the state units. He has also inducted prominent members of the so-called G23 to give a signal that the party is trying to reach out to them. He has also kept the promise made at the Udaipur conclave that 50% of the CWC members will be under 50 although the core CWC has only three below the cutoff age. Other representations, apart from the regional ones, are for women, tribal representatives, OBCs and Dalits. While A K Antony, Digvijaya Singh and P Chaidambaram from the old guard have been retained, young turks Gaurav Gogoi, Alka Lamba and Kanhaiya Kumar have also found place in the CWC.

There is no doubt that after Kharge's elevation and the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the Congress party is a more cohesive unit. The internal squabbles on the national stage have all but disappeared. The problems in state units are not unique to the Congress. Even the BJP has them. With the new CWC in place, the Congress will now have to contest the ensuing state elections with renewed vigour. Additionally, it will have to manage the contradictions in the INDIA alliance (given its frequent tiffs with AAP) and ensure that all the other parties consider it as best suited to provide leadership to the alliance.