By IANS
New Delhi : At his first meeting of the apex decision-making body of the party Wednesday, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi urged the party leaders to be “practical” and suggested changes in its membership conditions, party sources said.
According to the sources, the 37-year-old Amethi MP, who has recently been appointed general secretary in charge of the youth and students wings of the party, said at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meet that some of the conditions mentioned in the party’s constitution relating to the membership need to be “optional”.
He is believed to have said conditions such as the party members should be ready to do even “manual jobs” if required and should subscribe to party periodicals should be made optional.
“Rahul Gandhi has actively participated in the discussions,” Congress media committee chairman M. Veerappa Moily said though he did not elaborate on the deliberations at the more-than-an-hour-long CWC meet.
However, senior party leader Oscar Fernandes said: “Some (of the members) wanted to be practical.”
The CWC, held at Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s residence, decided to amend the party constitution.
“The CWC has considered the proposal to make the party memberships under one category. Instead of primary and active members (so far), there will be only one set of membership now,” Moily told reporters at the party headquarters here.
According to the existing provisions, anybody who takes the membership by registering his or her name and paying Re.1 would be a primary member and he or she needs to register at least 25 other members to the party to ensure the active membership.
There were also proposals on the composition of the subject committees that discuss the resolutions on party policies. The members of the subject committees will be limited to 150. The CWC also considered the proposal to increase the number of representatives from the primary committee to the block committee to two, with at least one of them a woman.
The amendments will be presented before the All India Congress Committee session, scheduled to be held Nov 17 at the Talkatora Stadium here.
The CWC, which was also attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, decided to present four resolutions – on the Centenary of Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagraha, the 150th anniversary of War of Independence, the 60th anniversary of India’s independence and a comprehensive resolution on political, economic and foreign policy.
The drafts of the resolutions will be finalized at an extended CWC meeting on Nov 16.