'Priyadarshini Congress' to woo young blood

Lucknow: 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 Priyadar-shini 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.

 We want the active participation of Priyadarshini Congress in the party working. We can assured you that this outfit will also play a role in moulding our policies and programme because through them we will understand the aspirations of young voters,” the functionary said.

The Priyadarshini Congress will be enrolling members on a yearly basis form colleges and universities.

Interestingly, members of the Priyadarshini Congress will have a dress code but they will not be wearing saris. They will wear either jeans or trousers though the colour of the T shirt is yet to be finalised. The colours of the T shirt will also denote the seniority of the member in the organisation.

“This is the dress that is worn by young girls and we do not wish to force an unwanted dress code upon them”, the functionary said.