Local bodies should be empowered, says Rahul

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today told panchayat members that the country's political system cannot work properly till local leaders are empowered at a meeting to seek their suggestions for the party's election manifesto in Maharashtra's Wardha.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Friday told panchayat members that the country's political system cannot work properly till local leaders are empowered at a meeting to seek their suggestions for the party's election manifesto in Maharashtra's Wardha.

HT Image

In a bid to seek suggestions and consult with common people, Gandhi has been holding meetings with various stake-holders before finalising the party's manifesto for the crucial 2014 general elections due in May.

After meetings in Delhi and Bhopal with Dalits, tribals and women, the Congress vice-president was meeting the local body members in Wardha.

"We need to make MPs powerful in Parliament, MLAs in state assemblies and only then the pradhans can do their work," Gandhi told the gathering.

He assured that their views will be accounted into the party's manifesto and said that if the Congress government is re-elected it will fulfill all their wishes.

The local body leaders demanded an IT mission for rural areas, uniform syllabus in schools across the country and a right to shelter, among other things.