Bengal: Rahul ropes in young ministers

Jul 07, 2010 - MANISH ANAND |

New Delhi

Following the poll debacle in the West Bengal municipal elections, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi is roping in young ministers in UPA-2 for long drawn out party-building exercises in the state in the run-up to next year’s Assembly elections.

The young Congress ministers in the UPA government have been sounded that they would be drafted for key role in the exercise to revive the party in West Bengal. “The young Congress ministers like Union ministers of state Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada and Sachin Pilot are being roped in for sustained party work in the state. They will be given certain districts to work with the party workers to build base before the state goes to the poll next year,” stated a senior party leader.
Mr Scindia is Union minister of state for commerce, while Mr Pilot is an MoS in the telecom ministry and Mr Prasada is an MoS in the petroleum ministry.
Along with these three young minister, Mr Gandhi is also roping in young party MPs like Kurukshetra MP Navin Jindal also for West Bengal work. Another young MP, Birendra Singh, is also being drafted as part of the exercise.
As part of a multi-pronged exercise, Mr Gandhi has already deputed 11 senior leaders from within the Youth Congress in various parts of the state to prepare grounds for the young ministers to work on. “Among the 11 Youth Congress leaders who are already camping in the state are Mastan Ali, Anil Thomas, Alok Sharma, Usha Rani, Anand Pandey, Neeta Sharma, Bishwa Ranjan Mohanty, Nadeem Javed (Youth Congress in-charge of West Bengal). Their brief from Mr Gandhi is to prepare a road map on how to rebuild the organisation and how to revamp the party in the state before the Assembly elections,” sources said.
Party functionaries said though they have been told the Congress would contest the West Bengal Assembly polls in alliance with the Trinamul Congress, Mr Gandhi wants the party to emerge a serious contender.
“The clear focus is to bring back the minorities and the backward castes to support the party,” added the functionary.

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