New Delhi

Congress has set up a task force on Covid and one of the party's top dissenting voices, Ghulam Nabi Azad, has been appointed as its Chairman.

The force is being set up after p[arty chief Sonia Gandhi gave a call for helping the country in dealing with this extraordinary health emergency.

Azad’s nomination may have come as a surprise for those seeing the situation from a political perspective, but given his track record of handling Swine flu epidemic and the challenging polio eradication drive in India as the union health Minister, it was a logical choice.

Others on the 13-member committee include Ambika Soni, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Mukul Wasnik, Pawan Kumar Bansal, K.C. Venugopal, Randeep Surjewala, and Jairam Ramesh.

The inclusion of Azad comes as a surprise as he raised the issue of elections in the party and demanded more visible leadership.

The task force will oversee relief operations run by the party as control rooms have been set at the central and state level, along with efforts by Youth Congress workers.

In its meeting on Monday, the Congress Working Committee passed a resolution, reading: "The Congress Party commits to fighting the Covid-19 pandemic with its entire might and will support every people-friendly initiative of the government in fighting the pandemic."

 "The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is nothing short of a grave calamity and a direct consequence of the Modi government's indifference, insensitivity and incompetence. It is the direct result of the Central government's willful disregard of scientific advice, its premature declaration of victory over the pandemic (that turned out to be just the first wave), and its unwillingness and inability to plan in advance in spite of warnings sounded not only by public health experts but also by the  Standing Committee of Parliament concerned," it said.