None From Odisha In 39-Member CWC; Ex-Union Minister Bhakta Das Among 5 In-Charges

Bhubaneswar: A new Congress Working Committee (CWC) was constituted by party president Mallikarjun Kharge as part of the exercise to rejuvenate the organisation ahead of the general elections due next year.

While no Congress leader’s name from Odisha has found place in the list of 39 CWC members, former Union Minister Bhakta Charan Das has been made an in-charge. He is one of the five in-charges appointed by the party president.

Apart from Das, a former state Congress working president, party’s Odisha in-charge Dr A Chellakumar, Dr Ajoy Kumar, Harish Choudhary and Rajeev Shukla are also in the five-member team.

The inclusion of Das in the team assumes significance for Odisha as state Assembly polls are also slated to be held along with the Lok Sabha elections. The party has been struggling to regain its base in several parts of the state.

“Though no leader from Odisha has been included in the 39-member working committee, our senior leader Bhakta Das has been made one of the in-charges. He will be playing an important role in the functioning of the party,” said a senior Congress leader.

Apart from the 39 CWC members, including nine general secretaries, the party president has appointed 18 permanent invitees and five in-charges, who will virtually be in the working committee, he said.

Stating that former MP Ramachandra Khuntia was the last CWC member from Odisha, he said former chief minister J B Patnaik had also been a CWC member. Not many leaders from the state have found a place in the highest decision making body of Congress.

It is for the first time that the Congress constituted its top-decision since  Kharge took charge as its president in October 2022. This has come months ahead of crucial assembly elections in states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and eight months ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.