Former Union Minister Rasheed Masood was on Monday made special invitee to the Congress Working Committee with immediate effect. The announcement was made by party General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi.
The decision is significant and it comes close on the heels of Masood, who was a national executive member and Rajya Sabha member of the Samajwadi Party, joining the Congress ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls in February.
64-year-old Masood hails from Western Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur district where Rahul Gandhi had recently shared the dias with him at a public meeting.
Before joining SP, Masood was with Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal with which the Congress has entered into a pre-poll tie-up to increase its influence in Western Uttar Pradesh.