Congress adopts ‘nav sankalp’, approves wide-ranging reforms at chintan shivir

UDAIPUR, 15 May: The Congress party on Sunday adopted a ‘nav sankalp’ – a roadmap for wide-ranging reforms in the party organisation, to make it battle-ready for the next round of assembly and Lok Sabha polls, sources said.

They said that the party has adopted the “one-family, one ticket” formula with the rider that another family member seeking to contest elections should have worked in the party in an exemplary manner for at least five years.

The party, the sources said, has also approved 50 percent representation to SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities at all levels of the organisation, as part of its social engineering efforts to win the confidence of the weaker and oppressed sections of society.

The resolution was adopted by the Congress Working Committee (CWC),

 the party’s highest decision-making body, after the final round of deliberations on key issues. The CWC met earlier in the day on the sidelines of the shivir.

After the three-day deliberations on organisational, political, economic, agricultural, social justice and youth-related issues, the dedicated panels formed for the purpose submitted their reports to the Congress president.

Tricky issues relating to ideology, economic policy and social engineering were debated in the chintan shivir panels.

The Congress is holding the three-day conclave in Udaipur against the backdrop of a string of electoral defeats and dissent in the party for the past many years.

The declaration also includes the demand for legal guarantee to MSP for farmers, besides granting 50 percent representation to those below 50 years of age in the party and making unemployment a major issue in the upcoming elections. (PTI)