The exercise coming three months after the authorisation given to her also saw the exit of CWC member K Keshava Rao who was in-charge of poll bound West Bengal as also Jharkhand. Others who have not been renominated to the CWC are Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Union Ministers Mallikarjun Kharge, V Narayansami and senior MP Kishore Chandra Deo. Those retained in the CWC besides Rahul Gandhi are senior ministers Pranab Mukherjee, A K Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ambika Soni and senior leaders Motilal Vora, Digvijay Singh, Janardan Dwivedi.
Oscar Fernandes has been promoted to CWC, the highest policy-making body of the party, and made a general secretary. Senior leader Ahmed Patel, who retains his position as political secretary to the Congress president, will continue to be part of the CWC, which will now have 19 members including Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
Home Minister P Chidambaram, who is a member of the elite core group, has been made a permanent invitee for the CWC. Dropped from the CWC Arjun Singh and Mohsina Kidwai find a place in the CWC as permanent invitees.
Satyavrat Chaturvedi, who is often at the centre of controversies because of statements against allies, has been removed as a permanent invitee. Besides the incumbents, Rahul Gandhi, Digvijay Singh, B K Hariprasad, Azad, Janardan Dwivedi and Mukul Wasnik, the new general secretaries are Birender Singh, Madhusudan Mistry and Fernandes.
Andhra Pradesh, which has sent the largest number of Congress MPs in two successive elections, does not find a place in the reconstituted CWC.
