Rahul Gandhi gears up for 2019 elections

​New Delhi: Gearing up for the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the Congress on Saturday formed three crucial committees to look after coordination, manifesto and publicity in the polls, with the old guard maintaining its position in the core set up under party president Rahul Gandhi.

The decision by Rahul Gandhi shows he has chosen against any drastic overhaul. Party leaders said he has opted for a blend of young and old leaders, taking the experience of the veterans and the energy of the youth together.
Gandhi formed the key nine-member Core Group Committee comprising AK Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad, P Chidambaram, Ashok Gehlot, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ahmed Patel, Jairam Ramesh, Randeep Surjewala and K C Veugopal.

While all those in the Core Committee have worked under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, those in the publicity and manifesto committees comprise old-timers as well as some fresh faces.

The 19-member Manifesto Committee comprises veterans like former finance minister P Chidambaram, former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, former union ministers Jairam Ramesh, Salman Khurshid, Shashi Tharoor and Kumari Selja, besides former Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, Punjab finance minister Manpreet Badal, party's women's wing head Sushmita Dev, party Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Gowda and Tamradhwaj Sahu, who is also the party's Backward class department chief, are also part of the panel. The others are Bindu Krishnan, Raghuveer Meena, Bhalchandra Mungekar, Meenakshi Natarajan, Rajni Patil, Sam Pitroda, Sachin Rao and Lalithesh Tripathi.