AHMEDABAD: The ‘chinta’ emerging from the Congress’ Udaipur ‘Chintan Shivir’ appears to be centred around the age limit recommended for ticket aspirants in Gujarat and elsewhere.
If the party is serious about the ‘rule-in-the-making,’ then 44 of the 63 Gujarat party MLAs will stay blackballed in the state due for polls in a few months from now.
The Shivir has recommended that half of the seats in the organization or any election should go to those aged 50 years and below. That has set the cat among the pigeons in a section of the state party MLAs.
“In Udaipur, the Congress decided to give a chance to the youth. It was Rajiv Gandhi who had paved the way for the reduced voting age from 21 years to 18. This decision will further strengthen Indian democracy,” said Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi.
Not only the incumbent MLAs but also senior state party leaders — 70% of them -- will stay out of the election or organization. However, younger leaders in the party’s youth wing are happy that they will get a chance in the Congress after years.Some of the party MLAs expected to retire hurt from the poll arena include Shailesh Parmar, deputy leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Dr. CJ Chavda, Baldevji Thakor, Gyasuddin Sheikh, Imran Khedawala and Vikram Madam.
“If the rule prevails, the Congress leaders would run amok because everyone wants the ticket. No one would say a word if BJP applied the no-repeat rule. In the case of Congress, we may soon see a long list of those who will have left the party,” said political analyst Dilip Patel. “There is yet another problem in the Congress: everyone wants to fight elections, but no one wants to work for the party without any post or election ticket,” he said.