‘ Priyadarshini Cong’ to woo young blood

The Congress will now create a new cadre for young women called the “Priyadarshini Congress”.

The new outfit will have members from the national level to the block and village level and will function more or less independently.

This will also be an extension of sorts of the Mahila Congress, but the members will be in the age group of 18 to 30 years.

A formal announcement to this effect is likely to be made on the birth anniversary of late Indira Gandhi on November 19.

According to a senior party functionary, the idea behind floating the Priyadarshini Congress is to catch the young voters.

“Today, there are young students who have an interest in politics and they are welcome to join the Priyadarshini Congress and get trained. For these members we plan to hold camps where they can leader our political ideology, political behaviour and also political discourses. The veterans in our party will be invited to address the young members,” said the party functionary.

Members of the Priyadarshini Congress will be deployed at block, village and city levels and will be entrusted the responsibility of various programmes of the party. As soon as a member attains the age of 30, she will become a member of the Mahila Congress, where she will work in a similar capacity.

The new force, apparently, is designed to counter the BJP’s millennium voter programme where those who turn 18 are brought into the party fold.

“We are making conscious effort to bring young blood into the party and we will be giving them programmes and work instead of allowing them to move around aimlessly,” the functionary said.