Udaipur(Rajasthan): The Congress on Friday said it was contemplating a completely new look by having 50 per cent of office bearers under 50 years of age and implementing the one family one ticket rule strictly.
“We are going to make big changes in the organization and the way the party works. We want all committees, including the Congress Working Committee down to the booth-level teams to have half of the office bearers under the age of 50 years,” Congress general secretary Ajay Maken said at a party briefing on day one of the chintan shivir which will prepare a strategy for the 2024 national elections.
On the 'One Family, One Ticket' rule Maken said that this was a strong suggestion and will be considered during the session. “We don’t want that ticket to be given to a relative of a senior leader if they have not worked actively for the party for five years,” said Maken.
The practice has often been criticized within the party when kith and kin of senior leaders get the ticket overriding the deserving ones. Maken further said that Congress was planning to set up mandal-level panels, which will bridge the gap between the booth level and block level panels.
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“A gap was being felt between block and booth level teams. The mandal level panels can fill this gap. Around 15-20 booths can come under a mandal and 15-20 mandals can come under a block. This will strengthen our party at the ground level,” said Maken. Noting the systems of the Congress had not changed since the past 50-60 years, Maken said the party was planning to set up an insight group, which will function round the year to assess issues relevant to the people and conduct surveys to get public feedback which is usually done only near the elections.
“New tools of democracy have emerged but we have not been able to make use of them. Due to this sometimes our rivals speed past us and we are left behind. This needs to change,” said Maken. Maken also said that the party was planning to set up an assessment wing, which will review the performance of party functionaries at regular intervals and make suitable amendments wherever needed.
“Many a time, posts are lying vacant and we are not able to appoint leaders. This should be avoided in future,” said Maken. Talking about unity, the senior leader said that disciplinary panels needed to be formed at the state and district level to ensure better accountability.
“There should be a system at the state and district level to punish and reward the workers based on what they do. It will discipline the errand workers as well motivate those who toil for the party,” said Maken. Among the other ideas that are likely to be debated are, limiting the age of persons holding key party posts, limiting the number of Rajya Sabha terms to 2 or 3, inducting more younger leaders into the party system and reviving the parliamentary board system.
