Tharoor, Manish Tewari in Cong's LS strategy group; Ambika Soni, Digvijaya Singh in RS

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Monsoon session, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has reconstituted the party''s strategy groups for Parliament by including party leaders Manish Tewari and Shashi Tharoor in the panel for Lok Sabha and Ambika Soni and Digvijaya Singh in the panel for Rajya Sabha.

Tharoor and Tewari are part of the G-23 leaders who had written to Gandhi last year seeking an overhaul of the organisation, including a visible and full-time leadership, triggering a storm in the party

The reconstitution of groups has been done to ensure the effective functioning of the party in both houses of Parliament during the Monsoon session starting Monday, Gandhi said in a statement.

The groups will meet daily during the session and can meet during the inter-session periods as well.

The Parliamentary strategy group for Lok Sabha is led by Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and has deputy leader Gaurav Gogoi, chief whip K Suresh and whips Ravneet Singh Bittu and Manickam Tagore as members.

Senior party leaders Manish Tewari and Shashi Tharoor are the new inclusions in this strategy group for lower house.

In Rajya Sabha, the new members included in the strategy group are Ambika Soni and Digvijaya Singh, while P Chidambaram is also part of the group.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge is the leader of the strategy group in Rajya Sabha, while Anand Sharma, who is deputy leader of the party, and Jairam Ramesh, who is the chief whip of the party in the upper house, are also in the strategy group, besides AICC general secretary K C Venugopal.

The joint meetings of these groups can be convened as and when needed and Mallikarjun Kharge shall be the convener, the communication by Congress president Sonia Gandhi said.