If former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot’s entry in the coveted Congress Working Committee (CWC) sends a message to the party’s state unit, Madhya Pradesh lawmaker Kamaleshwar Patel’s inclusion is aimed at conveying a strong signal to cadres in the state, party functionaries aware of the details of the rejig said. HT Image

Assembly polls are scheduled to be held in both these states, apart from Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram, which are widely considered as semi-finals to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

In the latest reshuffle of the CWC, the party has kept its focus on the larger goals of social engineering, the 2024 elections, equitable distribution of power but did not forget the impending challenges of the assembly elections, the functionaries cited above said.

In Rajasthan, a senior party leader said with Pilot’s nomination into the CWC, the leadership has tried to send a signal that ‘all is well’ in the state unit and that the party will contest the elections unitedly. “The appointment also indicates that Pilot is the future leader from Rajasthan...,” the leader said.

Former Mizoram chief minister Lal Thanhawla was retained as member of CWC, days after he quit as party president of the state unit. Similarly, Chhattisgarh in-charge Kumari Selja remains a CWC member, a position that adds to her authority in handling heavyweight leaders of the state. Another prominent woman leader of Chhattisgarh, Phulo Devi Netam, is also a member of CWC. From Telangana, a young face, Vamshi Chand Reddy, is a special invitee to the CWC. An MLA from Telangana, Reddy was one of the first Youth Congress chiefs who won though a poll.

Chhattisgarh minister Tamradhwaj Sahu and Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya of Rajasthan are among the new members of the expanded CWC.

The CWC has also added weight to its Delhi leadership. Former Union minister Ajay Maken, who quit as Rajasthan Congress in-charge in November amid the political fiasco, has been reinstated. Alka Lamba, who returned to the Congress from the AAP and Pawan Khera have also been included as special invitees.

The CWC has four new faces from Maharashtra. Former chief minister Ashok Chavan was inducted as a member while Chandrakant Handore, Yashomati Thakur and Praniti Shinde as permanent invitees and special invitees. “By elevating Chavan, it has been underlined that he will play a key role in the 2024 polls,” a state party leader said.

With inputs from bureaus in Rajasthan and Mumbai

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