The Congress on Thursday appointed former union minister Jairam Ramesh as the chief whip of party in Rajya Sabha, reported PTI. The party also announced Gaurav Gogoi as deputy leader and Ravneet Singh Bittu as whip in Lok Sabha.

According to reports, the party has also formed a ten-member committee, which will include five members each from both the Houses, to firm up party’s stand on key issues in the Parliament and ensure greater coordination between Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. These development comes weeks before the commencement of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which is expected to start from September 14.

Ahmed Patel, KC Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh will be part of the Rajya Sabha Committee, which will also include Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad and party’s deputy leader Anand Sharma, reported PTI.

The position has of Rajya Sabha cheif whip has been vacant since Bhubaneswar Kalita left the party.

Read: Gaurav Gogoi appointed as Congress deputy leader, Ravneet Bittu as Lok Sabha whip

The key changes with parliamentary affairs come days after Congress held its core committee meeting. The Congress Working Committee on Monday saw 23 leaders, who wrote a dissent letter, being roundly attacked.

The CWC witnessed some dramatic scenes with many leaders reportedly accusing the change-seekers of working at the behest of the BJP. This was, however, later denied by party leadership, including Rahul Gandhi. But, it triggered a chain of angry reactions from Azad and Kapil Sibal. After a marathon seven-hour session, Sonia Gandhi said she bore no ill will against the letter writers and that ‘let bygones be bygones’. But the message emerging from the meeting was that the party was not willing to go into the impact the leadership limbo was having on its credibility.