Rahul constitutes 23-member CWC, drops some senior leaders
New Delhi, July 17: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday constituted the Congress Working Committee (CWC) by appointing 23 members and dropping some senior leaders in his bid to strike a balance between age and experience, and prepare for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Prominent among those dropped from the previous CWC include Digvijay Singh, Janardan Dwivedi, Kamal Nath and Sushilkumar Shinde.
The first CWC to be constituted by Gandhi after his elevation as party chief in December last also seeks to have balance in terms of regional representation.
The first meeting of the new CWC -- the party's highest decision-making body -- will be held on July 22.
The new faces in the CWC include former chief ministers Oommen Chandy (Kerala), Tarun Gogoi (Assam), Siddaramaiah (Karnataka) and Harish Rawat (Uttarakhand).
Former Union Minister Kumari Selja, party MP from Durg Tamradhwaj Sahu, former MP Raghuveer Meena and former Manipur Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam are the other new faces in the CWC.
Sahu is the only Congress MP in the Lok Sabha from Chhattisgarh where assembly polls will be held at the end of this year.
Apart from Digvijay Singh, Janardan Dwivedi, Kamal Nath and Sushilkumar Shinde, those dropped include Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Kamal Nath was earlier this year appointed chief of the party's Madhya Pradesh unit.
C.P. Joshi, B.K. Hariprasad, Karan Singh, Oscar Fernandes, Mohan Prakash, Hemo Prova Saikia and Sushila Tiriya have also been dropped.
The new CWC does not include any of the three Congress chief ministers.
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be the senior members of the new CWC that will form the core team of the party for the state elections this year and the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The leaders who have been retained include Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ashok Gehlot, Motilal Vora, A.K. Antony, Amika Soni, Anand Sharma, Mukul Wasnik, Avinash Pande, K.C. Venugopal and Dipak Babaria.
There are several young faces in the 18 permanent invitees of the new CWC.
The permanent invitees include former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit; former Union Minister P. Chidambaram; party MPs Jyotiraditya Scindia, Gaurav Gogoi, Rajeev Satav, Rajni Patil; former MPs Tariq Hameed Karra, P.L. Punia, P.C. Chacko, R.P.N. Singh, Jitendra Singh and Ram Chandra Khuntia; and party's communications incharge Randeep Singh Surjewala.
Other permanent invitees include Shaktisinh Gohil, Anugrah Narayan Singh, A. Chella Kumar, Balasaheb Thorat and Asha Kumari.
The special invitees are party leaders K.H. Muniyappa, Arun Yadav, Deepender Hooda, Jitin Prasada and Kuldeep Bishnoi, and chiefs of party's frontal organisations apart from president of the party's student wing National Students' Union of India (NSUI).
The CWC was announced four months after the All India Congress Committee (AICC) plenary session in March ratified the election of Gandhi as party chief and authorised him to reconstitute the party's top decision-making body.
Ahead of the plenary, Gandhi had turned the existing CWC into a steering committee.
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What is Iran’s 10-point plan? Key demands ahead of US talks in Islamabad
Tehran/Islamabad: Iran has outlined a 10-point plan as the basis for upcoming talks with the United States, expected to begin in Islamabad on April 11, according to a statement from the Iranian Supreme National Security Council.
The plan lays out Tehran’s key political, military and economic demands, and is being seen as a framework for negotiations following the recent escalation in the region.
Strait of Hormuz at the centre
A major focus of the plan is the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping route. Iran has proposed “controlled passage through the Strait of Hormuz in coordination with the Iranian armed forces,” which it says would give the country a unique economic and geopolitical position.
The plan also calls for the “establishment of a safe transit protocol” in the Strait that would guarantee Iran’s dominance under an agreed mechanism.
Call to end conflict
Iran has demanded “the necessity of ending the war against all elements of the axis of resistance,” signalling its expectation that hostilities should stop not only in Iran but also involving allied groups in the region.
US troop withdrawal
Another key demand is the “withdrawal of US combat forces from all bases and deployment points in the region,” indicating Tehran’s long-standing position against American military presence in West Asia.
Sanctions relief and compensation
The plan places strong emphasis on economic measures. It calls for “full payment of Iran’s damages according to estimates,” along with “the lifting of all primary and secondary sanctions and resolutions of the Board of Governors and the Security Council.”
It also seeks “the release of all Iranian assets and properties frozen abroad,” which have been a major point of contention for years.
Binding global guarantee
Finally, Iran has demanded that all these terms be formally recognised through “a binding Security Council resolution,” suggesting it wants international legal backing to ensure enforcement.
What this means
The 10-point plan reflects Iran’s broader push for security guarantees, economic relief and regional influence. The upcoming talks in Islamabad are expected to test how far both sides are willing to negotiate on these demands.
