<p>The Congress is planning to field at least 100 young candidates in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as part of party vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s plans to present a younger profile of the organisation.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Sources said a significant number of young candidates could be from the Youth Congress, an organisation nurtured by Rahul ever since he was made All India Congress Committee general secretary in September 2007.<br /><br />There were demands from a cross-section of leaders in the AICC meeting on Friday to give youth a prominent role in the elections where BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has had a head start in poll campaigning.<br /><br />There are indications that the youth wing of the Congress has gained strength under Rahul’s watchful gaze over the past six years and could field at least 70 candidates.<br /><br />Finance Minister P Chidambaram had suggested fielding 272 candidates under the age of 35. Entrepreneur-turned-politician Sam Pitroda has also pitched for handing the reins of the party to the youth by saying, “The country needs leadership in its forties and not in sixties”.<br /><br />Another leader said the party was thinking of giving the youth a chance to test electoral waters. “If the veteran candidate may lose because of anti-incumbency, then we should give the chance to a youth. It does not matter even if he loses, at least such a move would help foster new leadership,” said a young party leader.<br /></p>
<p>The Congress is planning to field at least 100 young candidates in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as part of party vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s plans to present a younger profile of the organisation.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Sources said a significant number of young candidates could be from the Youth Congress, an organisation nurtured by Rahul ever since he was made All India Congress Committee general secretary in September 2007.<br /><br />There were demands from a cross-section of leaders in the AICC meeting on Friday to give youth a prominent role in the elections where BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has had a head start in poll campaigning.<br /><br />There are indications that the youth wing of the Congress has gained strength under Rahul’s watchful gaze over the past six years and could field at least 70 candidates.<br /><br />Finance Minister P Chidambaram had suggested fielding 272 candidates under the age of 35. Entrepreneur-turned-politician Sam Pitroda has also pitched for handing the reins of the party to the youth by saying, “The country needs leadership in its forties and not in sixties”.<br /><br />Another leader said the party was thinking of giving the youth a chance to test electoral waters. “If the veteran candidate may lose because of anti-incumbency, then we should give the chance to a youth. It does not matter even if he loses, at least such a move would help foster new leadership,” said a young party leader.<br /></p>
