Those included by party chief Sonia Gandhi in the CWC today include former UPCC president Mohsina Kidwai, Mahila Congress president Ambika Soni chairperson of the Tribal Welfare Corporation Ganga Potai and from Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh Mahila Congress chief M Lakshmi Devi.

The announcement was made by party general secretary Oscar Fernandes. Sonia is likely to wait till the organisational polls due at the AICC session in August this year to ensure 33 per cent representation to women in the All India Congress Committee (AICC).

With today's announcement, the strength of the CWC has risen to 22 and there are still two vacancies. Fernandes said two more women members would be nominated later. There are now six women members in theCWC, including Sonia Gandhi and party general secretary Meira Kumar.

Mahila Congress chief Ambika Soni termed her induction into the CWC as ``a great honour'' bestowed on her by Sonia Gandhi. ``The most important thing is establishing the party's credibility among the people by fulfilling deadlines set by the party chief. It shows her dedication towards the commitment for women empowerment,'' Soni told The Indian Express.Gandhi also set up two new departments in the AICC one for minority welfare under the chairmanship of Arjun Singh and another for SC/ST and Backward Classes led by Meira Kumar.

With the new assignment being given to Kumar, there will soon be reallocation of work among the party general secretaries, Fernandes said.The department for minority welfare will monitor the implementation of ``intensified programmes for the welfare and protection of minorities'' announced by Gandhi yesterday. It will also attend to all issues relating to the minorities.

The role of the department headed byKumar would be to monitor the implementation of the party policies and programmes as also to attend to all issues relating to the SC/STs and Backward Classes.

Fernandes said the AICC had set itself the deadline of January 31 for making nominations to the CWC. He said the reconstitution at the PCCs and at the district-level would be carried out within the next two months.

The elected members of the CWC are: Arjun Singh, Jitendra Prasada, Pranab Mukherjee, Sharad Pawar, K Vijay Bhaskar Reddy, Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Madhavrao Scindia, R K Dhawan and Tariq Anwar.