Rahul Gandhi constitutes Cong core group for 2019 LS poll, Randeep Surjewala makes the cut

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday constituted a 9 member core group for 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The Media Department head Randeep Surjewala and KC Venugopal, MP from Kerala have found a place on the high table of the Congress Party. Both of them will be part of a group which constitutes of AK Anthony, Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jairam Ramesh, Ashok Gehlot, Mallikarjun Kharge and P Chidambaram. These seven top leaders were a also big part of the 2014 election campaign, where Congress lost badly. The core group does not include Anand Sharma who has been accommodated in Manifesto and Publicity Committee.

Similarly, several new faces have been inducted in the Manifesto and Publicity Committees. The lateral entrant in the Manifesto Committee is Rahul Gandhi’s old-time aide Sachin Rao. The 19 member committee also include Lalitesh Tripathi, Shashi Tharoor and Mukul Sangama. The new entrant in the Publicity Committee is Divya Spandana who is head of social media head of the Congress Party. This group has accommodated Rajiv Shukla, Manish Tewari, Milind Deora, Pramod Tewari and others. Promising leader Jaiveer Shergi too has been included. 

These changes are part and parcel of long series of tweaks which Rahul Gandhi is conducting in the organization before the Lok Sabha elections. Rahul Gandhi has tried to keep a healthy mix of young and veteran leaders, to ensure that the party makes the best use of available talents.