Rahul Gandhi chairs first meeting of party's Steering Committee

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi today chaired the first meeting of the party's Steering Committee, formed after dissolving the Central Working Committee, to finalise the schedule of plenary session.

Chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party, Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, besides other leaders like A K Antony, Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge attended the meeting.

Gandhi had dissolved the Congress Working Committee and formed a 34-member Steering Committee to work in its place till a new CWC was set up.

The party's plenary session, to be attended by all AICC delegates who elected the new Congress chief, is likely to be held before March 5 when the second part of Budget Session of Parliament starts.

While all past CWC members are part of the new committee, some permanent invitees like Amarinder Singh, Vilas Muttemwar, RK Dhawan, Shivajirao Deshmukh, MV Rajasekharan and Mohsina Kidwai, and all special invitees have been dropped from the new panel.

As per the party's Constitution, the 25-member CWC has 12 elected members and 11 nominated members, besides the Congress president and the chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party.
The new members of the CWC will be elected either at the plenary or after it.