The group, headed by Veerappa Moily, has a number of powerful Congress leaders as its members, including the Gandhi family scion and Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi.

Mr Ramesh, who was the convenor of the group, is understood to have been dropped soon after its first meeting, but there was no official explanation for the action.

However, party sources indicated that the development could have something to do with Mr Ramesh’s public criticism of Culture Minister Ambika Soni over her ministry’s controversial affidavit in the Supreme Court on the Sethusamundram issue, which was later withdrawn. Mr Ramesh had later apologised to Ms Soni for his remarks.
This group constituted in September during the AICC reshuffle, was tasked with formulating the Congress party’s roadmap after studying various important political and social issues.

Mr Moily said Mr Ramesh had been dropped from the group but did not give any reason for it, while Mr Ramesh was not available for comment.

Among the members of the group are leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia, Prithviraj Chavan, Salman Khursheed, Sandeep Dikshit, Sachin Pilot and Vayalar Ravi.