Rahul Gandhi sets up panels for Congress plenary session

NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi today constituted an organising committee, a drafting committee and its four sub-groups, and a constitution amendment committee for the party's upcoming plenary session to be held here from March 16 to 18.
While former prime minister Manmohan Singh is chairman of the drafting committee and Mukul Wasnik its convener, AICC treasurer Motilal Vora is chairman of the organising committee and party general secretary Oscar Fernandes its convener, a party statement said.

The constitution amendment committee will have senior party leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Janardan Dwivedi as its chairman and convener, with 10 other senior leaders, including Ahmed Patel, P Chidambaram, Mallikarjun Kharge and Kapil Sibal, as its members.

The drafting committee has 44 other senior party leaders as its members. It also has four sub-groups on political, economic affairs, international affairs and agriculture and employment.

While A K Antony will be the chairman of the political sub-group and Selja its convener, Chidambaram has been made chairman of the economic affairs sub-group with Jairam Ramesh as its convener and Anand Sharma the head the international affairs sub-group with Jyotiraditya Scndia as its convener.

Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will be the chairman of the sub-group on agriculture, employment and poverty alleviation, with Meenakshi Natarajan as convener.

The Congress leadership will brainstorm on the party's strategy ahead of 2019 general elections, in its bid to oust the BJP from power.

The party will also dwell on its prospects in elections to key states of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh slated this year and is likely to evolve its plan at the session.

This will be the Congress' first plenary session under the presidentship of Rahul Gandhi, after he took over the reigns of the party from his mother Sonia Gandhi in December last year.