Congress president Rahul Gandhi is chairing his first meeting of the revamped Congress Working Committee, after taking over as party chief in December last year.
Former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who attended the meeting, in a scathing criticism of PM Modi said it's a culture of "constant self praise and jumlas as against solid policy framework for driving the engine of growth." He pointed out that the "claim of doubling farm income by 2022 will require an agricultural growth rate of 14%, which is nowhere in sight."
Gandhi revamped the CWC and dropped veterans like Digvijaya Singh, Janardan Dwivedi, Kamal Nath, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Karan Singh. Veterans like AK Antony, Ahmed Patel, Ambika Soni, Motilal Vora, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, Anand Sharma and Kumari Selja have been retained.
The new CWC includes 23 regular members, 19 permanent invitees and nine special invitees. Incidentally, the party, which is seeking 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies, has three women among the regular members.