Congress’s three-day Chintan Shivir is starting from today in Udaipur, Rajasthan. In this camp, the emphasis will be on strengthening the party organization and strengthening the Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. More than 430 veteran leaders of the party will attend the camp. It is believed that the party will consider bringing young and new faces to the leadership level.
The Indian Express quoted sources as saying that party leaders are pushing for the Congress to be rebranded as a youth party. For this, the age limit of leaders to hold positions in the organization and contest elections at all levels will be considered. Apart from this, the party can also seriously consider fixing a term limit for Rajya Sabha members.
It is worth mentioning that this is happening because of giving “youth look” to the party. Two senior leaders who played a key role in the deliberations for the Congress Chintan Shivir told The Indian Express that the party was seriously considering two proposals. However, it is not yet decided what shape these proposals will take.
Sources said that the proposals to bring the youth to the leadership level and fix the age limit are yet to be finalised. Like what should be the age limit, 70 or 75? And what can be the term of Rajya Sabha? Have to limit it to 2 or 3? Along with this the idea is also that no new member above a certain age is included in any organizational body.
A Congress leader informed that many leaders above the age of 70 and 75 are holding positions in the party at various levels. Sources said it is unlikely that he will be asked to step down. On the other hand, if we look at the age of veteran leaders in the party, the current Congress President Sonia Gandhi is 75 years old.
CWC members like Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge 79, Oommen Chandy 78, Manmohan Singh and AK Antony are above 80. At the same time, the age of Ambika Soni, Harish Rawat, P Chidambaram, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kamal Nath is also above 70 years. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is 71 years old. On the other hand, BJP has already fixed the age limit of 75 years for holding posts in the organization and contesting elections.
Let us tell you that this is the first Chintan Shivir session of the Congress in the midst of a crushing defeat for the party since 2014. 430 veteran Congress leaders will participate in the camp. In fact, since 2014, the Congress is facing election after election defeat. Meanwhile, many senior Congress leaders had vocally advocated a change in leadership. At the same time, many Congress leaders are of the view that the party should rebrand itself as a youth organization and work firmly on its vision.