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The Congress president will take instant corrective measures to strengthen the party with a chintan shivir (brainstorming session).
The chintan shivir will be held to prepare for all the coming elections this year, next year, and the Lok Sabha polls of 2024, party general secretary K.C. Venugopal had said after the CWC meeting.
Drawing the youth to revive the grand old party was one of the key points that arose out of Sunday’s meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), a source acquainted with the proceedings said on Monday. Senior leader Jairam Ramesh raised the issue while speaking on the party’s declining electoral fortunes and asked to concentrate on the youth segment. Agreeing with Mr. Ramesh, party general secretary for Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, is said to have informed the CWC that most of the party’s candidates were below 45 years.
In Uttar Pradesh, the party had concentrated on the youth and women vote by fielding 40% of women candidates and declared a separate youth manifesto. Though these became a talking point in the campaign, they did not translate into seats or vote share.
The Congress won only two seats in the 403-member House and managed a little over two percent of votes.
Given that Congress was a marginal player for over three decades in Uttar Pradesh, many argued, Ms. Vadra’s focus was to revitalize the organization rather than win seats.
At the CWC meeting, former party chief Rahul Gandhi is said to have agreed with the proposition that the party needs to tap into the youth vote.
Congress has maintained that the ‘situation is very serious’ and it is expected that a new focus will draw positive results in the near future.