Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday set up a 23-member Congress Working Committee (CWC), retaining many senior leaders including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel and Mallikarjun Kharge while bringing in some new faces.

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 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

There are 18 permanent invitees and 10 special invitees.

This is the first CWC to be constituted by Rahul Gandhi after his elevation as party chief in December.

The CWC was announced four months after the AICC plenary session in March ratified the election of Gandhi as party chief and authorised him to set up the party's highest decision making body.

Ahead of the plenary, Gandhi had turned the existing CWC into a steering committee.

First Published:Jul 17, 2018 9:42 PM IST