New Delhi, June 23: Reforms champions and social workers will sit side by side on the National Advisory Council headed by Sonia Gandhi.

Members of the council that will oversee implementation of the United Progressive Alliance’s common minimum programme were nominated today.

Sam Pitroda, who ushered in the telecom revolution during Rajiv Gandhi’s prime ministership, is in. So are Jairam Ramesh, the pro-reforms Congress general secretary, and V. Krishnamurthy, the first chairman of Maruti Udyog. Hanumantha Rao, agricultural economist and former member of the Planning Commission, also finds place in the 12-member body.

Social workers with experience in grassroots level organisations have been picked. Aruna Roy of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangthan in Rajasthan, Mirai Chatterjee of women’s self-help group Sewa in Ahmedabad and Madhav Chavan of Pratham, a Mumbai-based NGO, are included.

Gandhian D. Swaminathan, Jean Dreze of the Delhi School of Economics who co-authored some books with Amartya Sen, Jayaprakash Narayanan, the national coordinator of the Hyderabad-based Loksatta, A.K. Shiv Kumar, adviser to Unicef, and . C. Saxena are the other members.

The nominations were made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in consultation with Sonia, a government announcement said.

It was not clear whether the Left parties, who support the UPA government, had a role in the selection but they appear satisfied with the composition of the council.

“We had nothing to do with the selection. It was left to Soniaji. But we are happy with the inclusion of some people like Aruna Roy and Hanumantha Rao,” said D. Raja of the CPI.

The balancing act in the council’s composition is an attempt to reassure the pro-reforms industrialists on the one hand and signal that such reforms will have a human face on the other.

The inclusion of experts from the social sectors also reflects the government’s determination to ensure that the underprivileged sections, who rallied behind the Congress, were not overlooked.