After initiating the democratisation process in the Youth Congress in 2007, Rahul Gandhi is now planning major organisational changes in the Congress party’s youth wing, which till a year ago boasted a membership of 1.3 crore.
Sources said the party leadership had decided to revamp the party following drop in membership figures — office bearers are hesitant to reveal the actual figures — after successive defeats in the Lok Sabha and state elections.
To begin with, the term of the committees and its office bearers at national and state levels will be increased from two to three years. The party also plans to limit the number of times a person can contest for the post of president to one attempt.
Another planned change is the nomination of secretary’s post at the booth and assembly levels.
A person who can enroll maximum number of members will be given the secretary’s post and his subsequent promotions will be performance-based.
Ending the ‘nomination culture’ in the Youth Congress was Rahul’s key mantra for organisational democracy but it remains a distant goal. While appointing Rajeev Satav as the Youth Congress president in February 2010, Rahul stressed that the youth wing’s next president would be elected not nominated.
{{/usCountry}}Ending the ‘nomination culture’ in the Youth Congress was Rahul’s key mantra for organisational democracy but it remains a distant goal. While appointing Rajeev Satav as the Youth Congress president in February 2010, Rahul stressed that the youth wing’s next president would be elected not nominated.
{{/usCountry}}While the party is yet to conduct internal elections to find a successor for Satav — who has held the post for five years — it has zeroed in on some names for the post.