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Cong workout to give it leaner, younger look

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Saubhadra Chatterji New Delhi
Anxious to give a new, youthful look to the Congress as Rahul Gandhi begins to take centre stage, the party has started the process of reducing the voting age of its members.
 
At present, one can become a Congressman at any age, but vote only after turning 21. This is being reduced to 18. In this, many see a parallel to Rajiv Gandhi's move to reduce the eligibility age for voting in state and parliamentary elections to 18, creating a new constituency.
 
To enable the members to vote as soon as they become adults, the party is also scrapping its age-old system of two-tier membership "" primary and active. Instead, all party volunteers will be Congress members.
 
Although the idea has been in the works for two years, it is only now, after Rahul Gandhi's entry as the youth wing chief, that it is being acted upon.
 
The All India Congress Committee (AICC) meeting on November 17 is scheduled to take up these proposals, which entail an amendment to the party constitution.
 
Some pragmatic forces are at work too. The membership fee is being hiked to Rs 100. At present, primary members pay Rs 3 and active members Rs 75. According to insiders, this will to some extent dismantle coteries in the party, an integral part of the Congress.
 
As elections become more broad-based and all members can participate, contestants will need to reach out to the masses instead of banking on coteries. Younger leaders who don't have the backing of party groups will have as much chance of rising as the seniors.
 
The days of drab, repetitive discussions will have no place. The party will also make a significant change in its constitution by reducing the time spent on discussing resolutions in the plenary of the AICC, the highest political body in the Congress.
 
At present, a resolution goes through three stages : The Congress Working Committee, the Subjects Committee and the plenary.
 
"The Subjects Committee discusses issues in open forums during the first phase of the plenary. Then, the matter comes to the plenary. So basically we repeat the discussion," said a senior leader.
 
There will be no Subjects Committee. Resolutions will be formulated at the extended CWC and then sent to the plenary for a final decision.
 
As the party introduces resolutions before an extended CWC, more leaders will get to share their point of view.
 
A committee, led by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, has formulated the draft of these resolutions, which will be discussed bt the CWC tomorrow.

 
 

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First Published: Nov 07 2007 | 12:00 AM IST

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