He has apparently decided to pass on this message to the rank and file of the  party’s two youth wings, the Youth Congress and NSUI.

The young MP, who recently chaired the first national executive meetings of the two youth wings, made it clear that he wanted the young party workers to demonstrate their leadership and organisational capabilities by strengthening the grassroot level base of their organisations. They had to do this before thinking of trying to make a mark at higher levels.

The directive from Mr Gandhi, who is the AICC General Secretary in charge of the two wings, reaffirms the Congress leadership’s thinking that fresh energy should be infused into the Youth Congress and NSUI, so that they can revive their past glory.

They have to tread on the path of revival by campaigning for the forthcoming series of elections, beginning with the Gujarat Assembly polls.

Mass mobilisation
Sources in the Congress said that Rahul asked the Youth Congress and NSUI leaders to strengthen their over-8,000 block-level units  during the national executive meetings of the youth wings held some days ago.

In fact, to make it happen fast, he has even postponed a national Youth Congress convention, the sources said.
They added that Rahul had set long-term goals for both the organisations, asking the workers to actively participate in membership drives. He is also working on a system to ensure accountability among the youth leaders.

Soon, a vision document for the Youth Congress would come out, charting out its future programmes, the sources said.

They added that the focus would be on rural areas to increase its 70 lakh members.