By IANS,
Chennai : A whopping 1.3 million youngsters have sent in applications for membership to the Congress party’ youth wing in Tamil Nadu within two weeks of party general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the state.
According to Congress officials, the membership enrolment drive for the party’s state youth wing started by Rahul Gandhi has got a huge response.
The membership applications will now be scrutinised and the final list of those selected will be published later. Only those who are selected are eligible to vote in the ensuing elections to choose the state youth wing office-bearers.
A party official told IANS that there was no structured manner of enrolling members to the youth wing earlier and the appointment of office-bearers was also ad hoc. Now, the youth wing is being democratised.
Youth Congress president Ashok Tanwar told IANS over telephone from Haryana: “The Tamil Nadu numbers are around our earlier expectations. The data will first be digitised and the applications will be scrutinised, following which elections will be held.”
He said a membership drive was in progress in Tripura, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and parts of Uttar Pradesh.
“In one and a half years’ time, the whole country will be covered and elections to select the youth wing office bearers will be completed,” Tanwar said.
Asked about the total number of members in the Congress youth wing, he said: “As of now, the number is around three million. Since Tamil Nadu is a bigger state than states like Gujarat, Punjab and others, its share is high in the total now.”
Earlier, there was less sensitisation of the youth in states like Punjab and Gujarat, he added.