Congress leader P Chidambaram batted for younger leaders' inclusion in the party's top decision-making body, Congress Working Committee (CWC), and said that half of the CWC members should be elected as per the AICC constitution. Chidambaram's said in an exclusive interview with PTI on Monday, just days ahead of the Congress' crucial plenary session.

Asked whether he believes that elections to the party's highest decision-making body CWC were essential, Chidambaram said, "My personal view is that one-half of the CWC should be elected as per the Constitution of the party... I have no expectations or personal ambitions."

He, however, mentioned that persisting issues "about the strength of the electoral college that will elect the CWC". He was quoted as saying: "These issues must be resolved by the election commission of the party." He added that the organs of the party should also reflect the diversity of the country and the party.

The 85th plenary session of the Congress will be held in Raipur in Chhattisgarh from February 24 to 26. Chidambaram is currently a member of the steering committee that was set up by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge to function till the time a CWC is elected.

Congress general secretary organisation KC Venugopal earlier said the party's steering committee would meet in Chhattisgarh's Raipur on the first day of the session and decide whether elections would be held for the CWC.

According to the party constitution, the working committee shall consist of the president of the Congress, the Leader of the Congress Party in Parliament and 23 other members of whom 12 members will be elected by the AICC, as per rules prescribed by the working committee and the rest shall be appointed by the president.

Congress aims to be the "strong and the fulcrum" of Opposition

The upcoming Raipur session is being held when the Lok Sabha elections are due in about 14 month. Notably, the Congress wants to be the "strong and the fulcrum of the Opposition front".

Therefore, party top brass will deliberate and give direction on ways to forge Opposition unity during the three-day conclave, asserting that any such effort without it would be unsuccessful.

Chidambaram asserted that an objective analysis of the political situation will lead to the conclusion that the Congress has to be the "pole" around which Opposition unity in the 2024 Lok Sabha election can be built.

The Congress knows its role in bringing together various opposition parties for forging an alliance ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to take on the BJP and oust it from power, Venugopal said earlier.

"The Congress has already taken the initiative and has been in touch with various political parties. There is a clear-cut initiative taken by the Congress in bringing opposition parties together and we will certainly bring them together against the BJP in the 2024 elections," Venugopal told a press conference here.

"The direction on opposition unity will come from the party's plenary session, where this issue will be deliberated upon," he said and added that the main job is to defeat the BJP in 2024.

Venugopal termed the plenary session an "important milestone" in the journey towards the 2024 parliamentary elections and that around 15,000 delegates from across the country will participating in it.

Who are these delegates?

Giving the break-up of the number of delegates, Venugopal said there are 1,338 All India Congress Committee delegates and 487 co-opted ones, which comes to a total of 1,825 delegates. Besides, there will be a total of 9,915 Pradesh Congress Committee delegates attending the session, Venugopal said.

Meanwhile, Kumari Selja, who is the AICC general secretary in-charge for Chattisgarh, said of the total AICC delegates, there are 235 women and 501 below 50 years of age. Besides, there will be 704 from the general category, 228 from among minorities, 381 from other backward classes, 192 from among scheduled castes and another 133 from among the scheduled tribes.

Party treasurer Pawan Kumar Bansal said the session will end with a public rally in Raipur, which top leaders will address. The Congress had given a call to opposition parties asking them to join the yatra, Ramesh said and added that "we recognise that opposition unity is important".

(With inputs from PTI)