Rahul wants 50 pc of AICC office-bearers to be women

After giving a younger look to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in a recent reshuffle, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is now keen on increasing the number of women office bearers in the party.

At a meeting with the newly appointed AICC office bearer for the first time here on Saturday, Rahul expressed his desire to increase the representation of women at AICC to 50 per cent in the coming two-three years, observing that presence of women office bearers in the party was very less.

"Gandhi talked about how to ensure 50 per cent representation to women in AICC. He observed that their presence is not in the proportion as it should be. He (Gandhi) said the presence of women is less but it will definitely be 50 per cent in the coming two-three years,” party spokesperson Bhakta Charan Das told reporters after the meeting.

He, however, immediately clarified that Gandhi was talking about increasing representation of women at AICC, not giving them any reservation to the posts in the organisation.

“It's not about reservation. It's about their representation,” he said.
Ambika Soni is the only woman among the 12 AICC general secretaries appointed in the recent reshuffle while the number of women is only five among 44 secretaries.

The issue of inadequate women representation at AICC came up for a discussion at the meeting after AICC general secretary Luizinho Falerio, who is the in-charge of party affairs in North Eastern states, said he was looking after the Seven Sisters.

"But we have only six sisters here," Gandhi quipped, referring to the current number of women office bearers at the AICC. He, subsequently, said that he would make efforts to ensure that 50 per cent of AICC office bearers are women in the next two-three years.

Addressing the new AICC office bearers, the Congress vice president asked them to buckle up for a series of upcoming assembly polls and 2014 general elections. He gave a strict warning   to the party leaders against groupism and factionalism, making it clear to them that their performance will be monitored.

He also made it clear to the new AICC office bearers that those who had been given responsibility will also be held accountable for their actions.