New CWC to discuss Bharat Jodo Yatra 2.0 in 1st meeting

The first meeting of the reconstituted Congress Working Committee under Mallikarjun Kharge's presidency will be held in Hyderabad on Saturday during which the party's top brass will deliberate on evolving a strategy for upcoming assembly polls in five states and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Sources said the Committee is likely to also hold discussions on undertaking the Bharat Jodo Yatra 2.0, after the success of the previous Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.

The reconstituted Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party's top decision-making body chaired by party chief Kharge, has 39 regular members who will hold their first meeting on Saturday while deliberations will continue on Sunday with an extended CWC session that will include all state party chiefs and CLP leaders.

On September 17 evening, which is celebrated as Telangana National Integration Day, the party will hold a 'mega rally' near Hyderabad, where it will announce five guarantees for the Telangana assembly election.

The holding of the CWC meeting in Telangana's capital is as an attempt to boost the party's campaign in the poll-bound state and send out a clear message that it would go all-out to oust the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) government in the assembly elections.

Sources said the preparations for the upcoming assembly polls in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram, as well as the strategy to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in the 2024 general elections, would be chalked out during the meet.

The meeting comes at a time when over two dozen opposition parties have formed the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) to challenge the BJP-led NDA unitedly in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The joint resolution, issued by the bloc on September 1, after the third meeting of the bloc in Mumbai, had said the parties would contest polls together 'as far as possible', and that seat sharing in arrangements in different states would be 'initiated immediately' and concluded 'at the earliest'.

Discussions could also take place within the Congress body on the upcoming joint agitational plan of opposition parties and strengthening the organisation for it to remain a fulcrum of the opposition INDIA bloc.

The party's policy on seat sharing for the Lok Sabha polls could also come up for discussions during the meeting besides chalking out plans on how to corner the BJP and other regional outfits, including the BRS in Telangana on issues of corruption, besides national issues of inflation, unemployment and the Adani issue, sources said.

Ahead of key deliberations in Hyderabad, Congress leader Sachin Pilot hailed the reconstituted CWC as 'very balanced' and having a 'good mix' of youth and experience.

He asserted that the Hyderabad meeting of the party's highest decision-making body was crucial in view of the upcoming state polls.

Asked about the deliberations that would take place when the CWC meets on Saturday and at the extended CWC meeting on Sunday, Pilot said it is the highest decision-making body of the Congress where all issues of national importance need to be taken up to make the government of the day accountable.

"I look forward to these meetings in Hyderabad. The working committee will work with renewed vigour and energy and this augurs very well for the Congress' future," Pilot said.

Kharge had on August 20 reconstituted the CWC, retaining the old guard, giving space to the young and including prominent G23 group leaders such as Shashi Tharoor and Anand Sharma, in the 84-member top decision-making body of the party.

The CWC has 39 regular members, 32 permanent invitees and 13 special invitees.

These include 15 women and several new faces such as Pilot and Gourav Gogoi who are among the regular members.