New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday unveiled a revamped Congress Working Committee, bringing into his team new faces like Anand Sharma and some former chief ministers while retaining veterans who played a key role in the high command structure over the past two decades.

The CWC, the party's top decision-making body, has a new look now without some permanent faces like Digvijaya Singh, Janardan Dwivedi, Oscar Fernandes, B.K. Hariprasad and Sushil Kumar Shinde.

Rahul has sacked his so-called favourites C.P. Joshi, Mohan Prakash and Madhusudan Mistry, too.

While all the new general secretaries have been included, none from the in-charge category has been accommodated. Those in charge of states - and have similar responsibilities as a general secretary - have been made permanent invitees.

While these are mostly younger leaders being groomed for the future, even veterans like P. Chidambaram and Sheila Dikshit are in the permanent invitee category.

Dikshit was not included as a regular member, but other former chief ministers - P.C. Siddaramaiah, Harish Rawat and Tarun Gogoi - have been given pride of place.

Rawat will take over the responsibility for Assam, with Joshi being sacked as general secretary for the state.

The veterans who have been retained in the CWC include Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Motilal Vora, A.K. Antony, Ambika Soni, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge and Mukul Wasnik.

The existing general secretaries who are all members of the top body include Ashok Gehlot, Oommen Chandy, K.C. Venugopal, Dipak Babaria and Avinash Pande.

Tamradhwaj Sahu, the OBC department chairman, has also been included in the CWC along with other newcomers Raghuveer Meena and Gaikhangam Gangmei.

Another surprise inclusion is that of Kumari Selja, a Dalit from Haryana, signalling the leadership's disenchantment with former chief minister B.S. Hooda. Hooda's son Deepender has been included in the special invitee category, as also Kuldeep Bishnoi, son of former chief minister Bhajan Lal, indicating the leadership's readiness to look beyond the Hooda clan.

Jitin Prasada, a young leader from Uttar Pradesh, and Arun Yadav from Madhya Pradesh are also special invitees along with heads of frontal organisations.

The permanent invitees are: Balasaheb Thorat, Tariq Hameed Karra, P.C. Chacko, Jitendra Singh, R.P.N. Singh, P.L. Punia, Randeep Surjewala, Asha Kumari, Rajeev Satav, Shaktisinh Gohil, Gaurav Gogoi, A. Chella Kumar, Anugrah Narayan Singh, Rajni Patil and R.C. Khuntia.

While Jyotiraditya Scindia, who was expected to become a regular member, has been kept in the permanent invitee category, the exclusion of leaders like Jairam Ramesh, Salman Khurshid, Shakeel Ahmed, Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Singhvi from all categories has raised eyebrows. There is no representation from Bengal, Bihar and Odisha.

The first meeting of the new CWC will be held on July 22.