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Congress President Sonia Gandhi would decide on the party fielding Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Chairman Nandan Nilekani in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, Information & Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari indicated on Saturday.
“There is a process within the Congress on selecting candidates and these decisions are taken by the party president in consultation with other senior leaders,” he said.
Nilekani on Saturday met Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi in Bangalore and made a presentation at the Congress’ consultation for the national youth and students’ manifesto. However, the details of their discussion were not known.
The UIDAI chief had on Friday said he was willing to contest the coming Lok Sabha elections on a Congress ticket but had not decided on the constituency. But there have been talks that Nilekani will be fielded from the Bangalore South constituency, from where sitting MP, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s H N Ananth Kumar, has won five times.
“Nilekani has possibly presided over the greatest transformation this country has seen in creating unique identity for the people. His contribution is unique and unparallelled,” Tewari said.
Briefing reporters on the party’s third consultation to secure suggestions for its manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he said the Congress had, for the first time, decided to consult various sections of society and take their opinion before drafting its manifesto.
The Congress is likely to announce its final manifesto by the end of February.
“Till now, the manifesto was drafted by a handful of senior leaders, within four walls and without actually knowing the problems and issues of the youth. The party has, under Rahul Gandhi, for the first time embarked on the ambitious exercise of preparing its manifesto after consulting people from across the country,” Tewari said.
“The process of preparing the manifesto by public consultation stems from the Congress’ commitment to ensuring that governance truly reflects the people’s voice. The entire process is being spearheaded by Gandhi, who has been holding interactions across the country with a variety of stakeholders,” he said.
Earlier, speaking at an interactive session in Bangalore, Rahul Gandhi said: “Only the Congress party can take every Indian together — rich, poor, Hindu or Muslim.”
Stressing on the Congress’ contribution to building the India we see today, Gandhi said: “The Congress party brought about the industrial revolution in India, the technological revolution, as well as the socio political revolution.... Our Opposition markets better, works less. We work more but aren’t good at marketing,” he added.
A variety of suggestions were offered by about 120 young leaders who had gathered from across the country at Bangalore’s Palace Grounds. Young Indians from varied backgrounds — students, professionals, innovators, activists, researchers, artistes, panchayat representatives — provided their suggestions to Gandhi and other youth leaders of the party.
Every participant, irrespective of his or her background, was able to get his or her voice across and neither language nor disability proved to be a hindrance, said Tewari.
A delegate spoke at length in Tamil about the problems faced by the specially-challenged. A young Panchayat official from Jammu & Kashmir highlighted the disparities that affected his state. A social worker from the mine-rich town of Singrauli suggested the funds provided by private companies under Corporate Social Responsibility must be used for skill development initiatives, especially in tribal areas.
The consultation had three sessions, moderated by Rahul Gandhi. The first was on education, innovation and skill development; the second on jobs and entrepreneurship; and the third on opening up political space and building a new India.
“We need to open up our education system and link it to the industrial system, the NGO system and various other systems,” Gandhi said.
Responding to a comment made by a participant from West Bengal on the atrocities against women, he said: “If I want to bring about one change, it will be the empowerment of women.”
A number of other Congress leaders, such as Digvijaya Singh, Milind Deora, Sachin Pilot, Deepender Singh Hooda, Priya Dutt and Nandan Nilekani also attended the consultation sessions.
The Congress is likely to announce the final manifesto by end of February.
