Cong delays amending constitution

Any changes in the Congress constitution will be effected at the party’s plenary session in December.

Any changes in the Congress constitution will be effected at the party’s plenary session in December.

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A committee formed by party chief Sonia Gandhi to review the party constitution was earlier expected to move the amendments at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) session in Delhi on November 2.

But the panel, led by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, has expressed its inability to finalise all recommendations before the session due to paucity of time.

The panel, which held its first meeting recently, is now expected to move some amendments, including increasing the term of Congress chief and other committees from three to five years, at the plenary session to be held before December 20.

It was at a meet of the Congress steering committee, as the Congress Working Committee (CWC) is called before its reconstitution, on October 5 that Mukherjee had suggested amendments in the party constitution in tune with the times. Gandhi had accepted the proposal and accordingly formed the panel.

The party has a set procedure for amending the constitution. The committee’s recommendations would first be placed before the CWC for review. Once the CWC clears the amendments, these would then be brought before the AICC and finally ratified at the plenary session.